Commission for  calebc123, started off as a request and ended up turning into a commission, but despite the troubled origin it ended up actually pretty damn good.

Herkuville is a mysterious place. Entry is only granted to the biggest and the best, and it's not something you can just buy. You've gotta earn your way here.

---

Citizenship

Finn groaned as he cracked open an eye. His lungs burned with chemical fire - gas of some kind, he thought. Chlorine most likely, diluted down to non-lethal levels. Even for a sergal like him it was rough waking up from that, and he coughed a couple of times trying to get the acrid taste off his tongue. The last thing he remembered was being on the bus, and then… nothing. In fact he couldn’t even remember where he had been going to beforehand, what reason he was travelling for. His mind was just a foggy haze, and he couldn’t pierce it. He sat up, wincing at the sudden headache this caused, and took a look around. Nondescript room, blank walls. The word “Herkuville” was plastered along a wall in stylised letters - it was the name of arguably the most mysterious and desirable country in the world, a fabled place where every citizen was some prodigy of genetics, tucked away from the rest of the world. Finn had applied for a discounted ticket (which incidentally was still ludicrously expensive), but the border guards were notorious for ignoring access requests. Now it seemed his ticket was finally being gotten to.

“Yer awake, huh?” Finn jumped at the voice right behind his left ear, and nearly launched an arm into the gecko that was standing behind him. “Woah woah woah, I’m not gonna hurt ya.”

“How do I know that?”

The gecko lifted his shirt to reveal a small glowing implant on his chest. “Imma contestant, like ye. Ain’t no reason te fight.”

“What do you mean, ‘like me’?” A cold wave washed through Finn, and he lifted his shirt. Sure enough there was an implant embedded into the black and white fur of his chest, blinking gently. “What is this? Where the hell am I?”

“Oh, yer a newbie, huh.” The gecko walked closer and sniffed a couple of times, recoiling at the smell. “Damn, still got the stench o’ chlorine on ya. Ye must be fresh off the bus.” He extended a hand. “Name’s Camsift, an’ don’t worry, you ain’t in any danger. Well, not now anyway - ye might be stuck here a while though.” He ran a critical eye up and down Finn’s body, noting the distinctly skinny build and lack of muscle.

“What is this place?” Finn was beginning to panic a little bit now, worried that he was in some sort of prison. “I haven’t done anything wrong!”

“Naaah, yer all good. Yer lucky actually, ye’ve been chosen to compete for Herkuville citizenship.” That word again, the same one that sent strange shivers down Finn’s spine.

“Herkuville?”

“Tis a city, custom built. Streets paved wi’ gold, so they say. Ye make it there, ye set for life.” Camsift grinned. “Ye gotta win ye way in first though.”

Just then the room rumbled, and alarmingly began to shake underneath them. After a couple of lurches that seemed to indicate movement, the roof split to reveal a baying crowd and what looked like some sort of strange obstacle course. More worryingly though they appeared to be in space, suspended in the darkness in a dome of sorts.

“Welcome to the monthly Herkuville competitions, ensuring that only the best get in! This month it’s the classic obstacle course, with a twist - antigrav traps! Get caught in one of these bad boys and it’s game over! Best of luck!”

There were 3 short beeps, and then a buzzer went off. Finn barely had time to look around before Camsift ran past him, and he quickly followed. Looking around he could see many other creatures all running their own courses, but many of them looked to be in much better shape than him. Muscular, athletic, powering through the course like they had done it many times before. Even Camsift rapidly outpaced him, darting through the obstacles surprisingly quickly.

Finn tried, he really did, but it had been far too long since he’d done any form of decent exercise, and compared to the other, much fitter contestants, he was being left in the dust. He finally met his demise when his foot slipped from a platform and he found himself floating in the air - antigrav trap. He was forced to watch as the other contestants raced to the end, the eventual winner a dragon that looked like a scaly tank. Not far behind Finn could see Camsift, maybe third or fourth, cursing his mistakes in the earlier sections that put him behind.

Once the winner had been escorted away grav beams peppered the course, picking up the other contestants and transporting them back to the holding chambers and training facilities. The last that Finn saw before metal doors closed around him was the crowd cheering loudly, for a new member had been added to their ranks. And as for the others, well, they would come back stronger.

*

“Come on, ye’ll want te see this.” Finn followed Camsift down the hallway. The gecko had become sort of a mentor for him, explaining what this place was and what he should be doing in it. Apparently the show was held every month, and the top 3 winners got entrance to Herkuville, while the rest were forced to wait for the next show to win their ticket to glory. In the meanwhile though they had plenty of time to train, and that was exactly what Finn was going to do.

The training area was a world away from Finn’s local gym. Of course it was a similar sort of layout, machines and weights dotted around, but there seemed to only be one setting for all of them. Finn walked over to a nearby weight to pick it up, and nearly launched it into the ceiling - the thing weighed nothing at all. He tossed it up and down.

“Here, ye’ll want one o these.” Camsift handed Finn a strange looking device, and the sergal looked at it in confusion.

“The hell is this?”


“Personal gravity field. Weight correlates with gravity, the more gravity there is the more stuff weighs. Instead of increasing the weight, here ye increase the gravity.” Camsift reached over and placed it into the implant on Finn’s chest, where it clamped in and began to glow a soft crimson. Finn fiddled with it a little bit, twisting the dial, and his eyes widened as he felt the weight in his hand grow heavier all of a sudden.

“Woah.”

“Those things go waaaaaay up, so careful. Ye don’t wanna crush your bones under yer own weight, trust me when I say that sucks. Now there’s one other thing ye need to know about, n’ that’s upgrades. If the crowd likes ye, then ye get some….benefits.” Camsift looked around for a few seconds before settling on a nearby otter. “Him. Watch.”

Finn did so, observing the brown furred guy squaring up to a punching bag. He didn’t look very big - in fact he was almost skinny - but he was relatively toned and looked bouncy on his feet. He then proceeded to punch the bag so hard that it flew off into the distance, simply disappearing off into the starry sky. Finn’s eyes widened as he watched the ocelot shake his hand, which was still smoking from the force of the punch.

“Density augmentation. He’s trained just as much as everyone else, just had it compressed inteh a smaller space, makes ye strength go further - guy could punch a hole through a planet. Someone wants him in, someone with deep pockets.” Camsift grinned. “That ain’t the only one either, they got all kinds o’ stuff up there if ye suck it up to the fans. Good luck gettin’ one though, ye gotta be popular. And not as ugly as me.” He laughed, the sound coarse and ever so slightly sad, and with a nonchalant wave began to walk off. “Well, I gotta get training. Seeya around kiddo.”

Finn picked up a weight and adjusted the gravity field, feeling the weight grow heavy in his hand. After a couple of seconds of adjustment he found a level that seemed perfect for him, and began with some simple curls.

Having quite literally nothing else to do turned out to be a powerful motivator. Finn found himself curling more and more, 20 reps becoming 50, then 100, then 200. There was food and drink readily available constantly via open buffets dotted around the area, strange meats and fluids that he didn’t recognise but certainly seemed to inject strength into his limbs. He spent the entire day focusing on his arms, throwing in a few compound lifts whenever he got tired, and quickly lost count of how much he did. He could barely feel the hours slipping by as he raised those weights up and down with metronomic precision, over and over. By the time the fields shut off and the contestants were ushered back to the rooms, he felt like he’d sweated an entire swimming pool.

The following day he could see he was definitely bigger. His arms jutted out further than they did before, and despite the lack of soreness they felt tighter, more restricted. He couldn’t bend his elbow quite as far as he used to. He was shocked at the high level of growth in just a day - it was a significant amount.

“Good huh?” It was Camsift, sauntering up. “That’ll be the food. I bet ye got genetically modified crops back home, eh? This stuff is that but better. Yer lookin at 50 centuries of food tech inna slab of meat.”

Finn gave the buffet an odd look, appreciating the meat in a new light. Sure, he’d felt full of energy this morning, and sure he’d done an insane amount of exercise yesterday - his taut muscles were testament to that. But considering all he’d been through he was remarkably unhurt, ready to go again.

“It’ll boost yer growth too, natural follistatin n HGH.” Despite his coarse accent the names rolled easily off Camsift’s tongue, and Finn wondered if there was more to the gecko than he realised. For the first time he noticed how high the gravity field on the gecko’s chest was cranked up, well past his own level. It was odd, because he didn’t look very muscular, but he must have been three times Finn’s own strength. Camsift saw him staring and laughed.

“What, ye didn’t think I was a pushover now did ya? I might no’ be the biggest, but that’s cause I got other places to focus.” Camsift shifted on his feet, unwilling to reveal too many secrets to someone who may very well be competing against him. He pointed into the distance, where Finn could see what looked like the biggest dragon he had ever seen. The guy was wider than he was tall, a veritable mountain of muscle. Even from this distance Finn could see every individual muscle pumping away, pulsing cords of strength wrapped around his entire body. “See him? He’s been here fer years, never wanted teh leave. Some peeps spend their lives here, working out till the end o time. Me, I need my freedom.”

Me too thought Finn - the thought of spending the rest of his life here was repellant, just out of reach of Herkuville. Not only that but the living conditions thus far had been awful - nothing more than a bare room and a bed, no heating, no entertainment of any kind. Truth be told he’d had no intention of playing their games initially, but after a night in there he was starting to look for ways to take his mind off the situation. He reached a hand towards his chest and gave it a turn, and when he picked up the next weight it was heavier than before.

It was right then that he decided he wasn’t going to waste this opportunity. He’d always wanted to be bigger, and now he had no excuse to avoid doing it, nothing holding him back. He was going to be the biggest he could.

By the third day of lifting the difference was noticeable. Finn had bulked outwards, his upper body widening and thickening, slow curves of muscle caressing his limbs. His movements were slightly sharper too, as he put more strength behind each one. The pain had remained a dull ache, his body packing on protein fast enough to dissuade it somewhat, but he was still feeling the effects of so much exercise without any form of rest. His body was hurting, and each day felt harder and harder as muscles both packed on and burned with effort, more every day. He was even a tiny bit taller, mostly thanks to his frame swelling outwards, but it was barely noticeable unless you were looking for it. However it wasn’t fast enough for him, he knew he needed to get much bigger in order to stand a chance. With a grim smile he cranked the gravity field up, up, way higher than he should.

That was a mistake.

He picked up a weight from the rack, but his body simply couldn’t hold and practically gave out. As he lay there in a heap, Camsift gave him a knowing grin across the room.

“There’s a voice command on that. Took me a few hours teh find it the first time, but i’ll spare ye the same experience.”

Finn gratefully commanded the field lower, but still made a point to set it as high as he could carry. When he picked up the weight now he struggled to even do one rep. The thought of lifting it all day filled him with a strange sense of both dread and excited anticipation.

“Hey Camsift, what happens if we win?”

“Couple o’ things. Big one is that ye get into Herkuville, that’s the main aim. The ones that come from here go in pretty high, since they got some weight already. The bigger ye are, the higher yer social status. Pretty much everyone in there’s bodybuilder level or higher, it’s something let me tell ya. Ye get teh keep all the upgrades too.”

“Wait, isn’t that a bit...dangerous?”

“Nah. Ye think those are impressive, ye wait till ye see what they got the cops juiced up with. It ain’t police brutality if yer dead on the first hit.” Camsift grinned at Finn’s shocked expression. “Ah, i’m messin with ya, they ain’t monsters. Though I ain’t kiddin about them bein’ juiced to the gills.”

Finn shrugged. “What’s stopping me just working out forever, like that dragon?”

“They ain’t a fan o’ that. Yer living conditions’ll get worse n’ worse, they’ll try teh force ya. There’s a reason there ain’t many like ol big derg in here, most don’t survive that long. He’s the exception to the rule.”

Finn decided right there and then that he was going to get out of this prison camp disguised as a gym. He was going to do his best to win his citizenship, because the alternative was worse. He would do whatever it took. As he picked up his weight again, he had a sinking feeling that he had never really had a choice in the matter. According to Camsift he had apparently signed up for this in the contract, but the gas they had used prevented him from remembering anything on that document, and besides, it wasn’t like he read the small print anyway. He shook his to clear it, and focused on the weight once more - he had more important things to worry about.

On the tenth day Finn was struggling. He’d been pushing himself far beyond what he was capable of, but now his breathing was laboured and his body was on fire. He was midway through another gruelling day when Camsift bounded up.

“Hey! HEY! Come on, quick! Got somethin’ for ya!” Finn groaned but let himself be led by the excited gecko, to what looked like a small metallic package on the floor nearby. It had his name on the side. “Ye got a sponsor! Dunno how ye did it, but someone’s lookin out for ya. Well, go on, open it!”

Finn did so, and saw what looked like a very appetising steak. Something about it seemed...off, and as he inspected it he realised it was glowing ever so slightly, just enough to be barely noticeable. He prodded it with a finger. “Is this...an upgrade?”

“Ye betcha ass it is! Dunno watcha got till ye eat it though, so get on with it.”

Without any further hesitation Finn picked it up, and with a few bites quickly munched it down. It tasted very odd, like someone had done a very good imitation of what a steak should taste like but couldn’t quite hide the fact that it wasn’t actually real. Instantly the fatigue in his body began to melt away, the soreness and aching simply evaporating into thin air. He tried moving, and all of the pain he’d gotten used to was simply gone.

“Woah.” He picked up a weight, curling it a couple of times, and each lift was like his very first one. There was resistance, sure, but no soreness whatsoever.

“Repair augment, yer body is fixin’ ye up as fast as ye can break yerself. That’s a rare one, that is. Ain’t nothin’ more than a mind trick, but damn if it ain’t effective.” Camsift looked suitably impressed, and Finn grinned - with this he could work out many times harder than before, push himself even further. He looked up, silently thanking his sponsor.

By the end of the 13th day he was twice the size he had been before. His frame had bulked up well past athletic and was fast approaching bodybuilder levels, the fur on his pecs making them stand out even more. It hadn’t been too bad, for although it was difficult it wasn’t that painful thanks to his upgrade, but by now his body had been torn apart and put back together several times over, and the results were just as extreme. Camsift had been helping him out here and there, recommending certain exercises to target hard to reach muscles, forcing him to round out his development. The gecko was something of a fiend for targeting high motor areas like shoulders, a tendency that worked wonders for his own lithe frame but ended up bulking Finn up even more, making his body wider and thicker.

He loved how he looked. He hadn’t realised just how much he’d wanted to be big, how much he craved size, and now that he’d achieved it in just half a month he was over the moon. He couldn’t help but flex over and over again, admiring how his body pulled in new directions thanks to the muscles both restricting and augmenting his movement at the same time.


On the night of the 19th day there, he had an exceedingly pleasurable dream. His upgraded metabolism had the side effect of causing slight chemical imbalances in his brain while asleep, nothing too serious in most cases. However it had the unintended effect of dragging him into an extremely lucid dream, and one that he was currently enjoying very much.

It was a simple dream, for it drew from his deepest desire - to be bigger - and made it flesh. Except in the dream he was hundreds of feet tall and built like an absolute monster. Steel pythons of muscle wrapped their way around his arms and forced raw strength deep into his core, so that every movement was charged with immense power, every breath heaved into a thick chest swollen with insane amounts of muscle. His legs were two pillars of strength, spearing into the ground like great pylons, immovable and insanely muscled. Each muscle group was clearly visible, not an ounce of fat to be found anywhere, and things only got more progressive as one progressed up his body. He sported a godly 10-pack, each ab a thick ball of muscle, deep grooves forming between them. The whole arrangement crunched, even the slightest contraction showed off the massive power pulsing through every single compressed fiber. His chest was a powerhouse of force, jutting outwards like a pair of hills, so large that he could barely see underneath them. Even his arms were immense, each thick limb adorned with a bicep so large that it dwarfed even the largest of the camp’s…. Inmates? He didn’t know what to call them. He didn’t care anymore - all that mattered was the moment, right here and now, just him and a body like a titan, like a god. He rolled a pair of shoulders like massive cannonballs and laughed, and the sound was deep and dripping with power - just the way he liked it.

He gave a few flexes, and noticed the scores of people watching him from far below. This was his show, for none could even begin to compare to his size, and he made sure to emphasise just how much better he was than everyone else. He flexed, he posed, he grunted, and all the while he couldn’t help the grin curling his face. Power was intoxicating, he realised, and he couldn’t get enough of it. Some of the furs below were jealous, some were enamoured. None of them would forget him. He flexed harder, and harder, feeling his body swell with power, feeling his own invincibility…

Then he opened his eyes, and the dream dispersed like the steam over a hot cup of coffee, disappearing into the weak morning light. He sighed, but truth be told he was glad it was a dream. He was certainly big, that much was undeniable, but he was nowhere near the size he had imagined. That size only brought problems - he would happily settle for just regular old big rather than macro big. Well, to say he’d settle for being big was something of a misnomer - he had been watching his muscular progress, watching his body thicken out each day, and he didn’t feel the faintest inclination to stop. Bigger was always better, he had to be thicker, stronger. Working out now was a drug, and he was becoming hopelessly, wonderfully addicted. But being macro? It was not a path he wished to pursue, no matter what his dream told him. That being said, if the food took him down that path he certainly wouldn’t be complaining too much, not with that much strength and size at his disposal.

25 days in and Finn was really noticing the difference. His body was much heavier, his movements weighty and loaded where once he had zipped through the air, and his whole frame exuded power. It wasn’t just for show either, for Camsift’s attentions had made sure his growth was geared towards the high motor areas - boulder shoulders, thunder thighs, a set of abs that looked like a pack of tennis balls jammed together. All of that strength had not stopped his agility though, and he was just as quick as he had always been, if not quicker. His movements simply carried a ton more force behind them now. He did have to admit he wasn’t as flexible as he used to be, since his muscles were large enough to make bending certain joints difficult, but he didn’t care. Speed and strength, that was what mattered, speed and strength. And oh, he had plenty of both.

“Not bad.” Camsift nodded as he looked Finn up and down, admiring his body.

“Yeah, it’s due to that upgrade. Kept me focused all day.”

“Lucky bugger, no wonder ye look like a tank already. Hey, ye wanna know a secret?” Camsift looked around for a bit before leaning in. “Bigwigs around here, they’re all about the money. They give you all kinds of bonuses if ye’re a fan favourite. In fact, if ye don’t come first but are close, they might even still let ye in. If ye’re liked o’ course.”

Finn raised an eyebrow. “They break the rules for favourites?”

“More like bend em, and not by much. They ain’t ever allowed anyone in who didn’t play by te rules, and they probably ain’t gonna unless it causes some huge uproar or something. At the end o the day it’s the fans payin the bills, and if they want you in badly enough…” Camsift shrugged. “Who knows, ye might be the first.”

“Good to know.” Finn acknowledged the information, and looked the gecko straight in the eyes as he put a hand on his chest and cranked the gravity field up. Camsift barked out a short chuckle before shaking his head and walking away, leaving Finn to go back to his now much heavier weight. It was painful to lift, which meant he was practically tearing his bicep with each curl, his body furiously repairing itself as it screamed in anaerobic pain. But the pain was good, the pain made it real. The pain was validation of his progress. He watched the weight go up and down, watched that already immense bicep pulse and bounce with every movement, veins flashing down the length. Strength was everything here, and he was going to take it all.

Whether he had to play by the rules or take it by force, one way or another, Finn would win his freedom. Far away, hidden just out of sight, Herkuville awaited his presence.