Ty and Pan sprinted up the stairs to the lifting area. Between the sounds of metal clanking and strained grunting were their exerted pants. Despite the sweat beading down their faces, both felt a chill down their spine as they prepared to look for him. Pan looked down at the box he was holding: a small white container with a clear lid. Inside the vessel were 4 muffin-shaped lumps. Pan’s head bolted up as he felt his friend give him a firm shake.

“There he is,” Ty said. His finger pointed at a towering grey wolf with imposing golden horns and equally intimidating musculature: Adrius. The drolf stood in front of a mirror wall, back turned to the pair. The double bicep flex he was performing exuded carnal power. Adrius defined latissimus dorsi, and major teres suggested a lifestyle of austere eating. However, the burgeoning belly that sagged laterally from his profile contrasted this idea extremely. Adrius’ cheat meal was livelier than a typical cheat day.

Occasionally his stomach swung and bulged of its own accord, causing the posing titan to belch reactively. Glancing to the sides of the mirror, the pair caught a frontal view of the voracious bodybuilder. With his manic grin, sculpted torso, and engorged stomach that took up half the view of his body, Adrius exuded an aura that repelled most other gym-goers.

“That’s the guy who ATE Hund?!” Pan asked with disbelief. Ty put a finger over Pan’s mouth and nodded.

“I don’t think these muffins are going to work on him. I mean, 1 muffin really blew up Hund’s belly, but this guy looks like he could eat 5 muffins without getting sick!” Pan said, looking at his measly offering.

“This was an emergency, and 4 muffins are better than none,” Ty said, attempting to reassure the panicking panda. “Just follow my lead, and we’ll make it work.” Pan took a gulp but nodded. Just as the pair were about to take a step forward, the drolf let out a gruff booming acknowledgment.

“Old friend, what brings you back so soon?” Adrius said without turning his head. He then took a sniff and chuckled. “Is that a new treat for me? He smells very lively.”

Pan tried to bolt down the stairs, but Ty quickly leashed the fleeing mammal by his fluffy tail. “This is just a friend. We are both here to see Hund. He’s still with you, right?”

Adrius let out a belly rocking guffaw and possessively rubbed his stomach. “Why don’t you and your friend come closer and have a better look? I promise I don’t bite. That would ruin the fun.”

Pan grew stiff as a board as Ty dragged him closer to the menace. Ty took every step, even he was beginning to worry about coming out in one piece. As the intrepid pair was within arm’s reach of Adrius’ behind, Ty asked another question. “What are you planning to do with him?”

Adrius smiled with a gleam in his eyes. “Why don’t you come around and see?” Pan and Ty walked up, transitioning from posterior to frontal. From the side, they could see the full girth of Adrius’ feasting. The grey and tan dome distended outwards by at least 5 feet.

“While you stepped out, I really pigged out. Well, ‘pigged out’ wouldn’t be apt because I don’t remember dining on swine. I can say that I was hungry enough to eat a horse.” Adrius said, laughing at his pun just when the head of an equine pressed against the fleshy prison. All the warmth from the red panda drained from his face as he locked eyes on the glutton’s trophy. Besides the equine head, Pan spotted other species fighting for freedom behind the gut. Avian, ursine, feline, but oddly no canine.

“Ty, I don’t see Hund,” Pan whispered to the golden retriever, causing Adrius to look eyes on the meek ailurus.

Ty spoke up. “It must be pretty crowded in there; I don’t see Hund.”

“I can definitely feel him,” Adrius answered cryptically. “Hund, do you want to say something?”

“You horned fatass, I’m going to beat your ass when I get out of this!” Hund’s muffled voice came out from a region of Adrius’ spherical stomach. Ty looked down in shock, his mind pondering what to do now. Meanwhile, the last remaining traces of red in Pan’s face drained, causing the panda to faint. Adrius laughed, causing his belly to shake once more as the thud woke Ty from his daze. Now lucid, Ty still didn’t know how to approach Adrius. Instead, he decided to help get Pan off the floor and away from the voracious drolf.

Adrius continued haughtily laughing as Ty bent over to grab Pan. As he descended, Ty noticed what looked like a pair of brown furry legs buried at the base of Adrius’ globular sac. Curious, Ty moved his hands to the bottom of Adrius’ stomach and began hefting up. At first, Adrius barely noticed the contact, but as he felt his gut lift upwards, he began making boastful comments once more.

“Trying to make a new personal record Ty? You are doing better than Hund,” Adrius said as the prey-filled prison lifted higher and higher. Ty felt his arms straining as he tried lifting the weight of countless prey off this mysterious body. After rising about 6 inches, Hund emerged from beneath the rolls of girth, or more appropriately, a version of Hund appeared.

The figure maintained the same proportions as the Hund Ty knew but scaled down significantly from his original size. Standing at roughly 2 feet tall, Hund was barely up to Ty’s knees. Yet Hund somehow, despite his shrunken state, maintained the full vigor and anger over his captor.

“Ty, your fat fuck of a friend belly smooshed me for the past hour! Where the hell were you?!” Hund said in a higher-pitched voice. In a situation like this, one would be staring in disbelief and rationalizing the witchcraft that caused such a transformation. Instead, Ty couldn’t help try to stifle his laughter, only to fail miserably.

“BAHAHAHA!” Ty chortled exuberantly, causing Hund to fume even more intensely. “You had me there, Adrius, with that really strong pred acting. I got so nervous when you went up to Hund earlier that I ran to get extra help.” Ty said as he plucked Pan off the ground and laid him on a nearby bench.

Adrius laughed heartily as well, belly bouncing full of prey like Santa Claus if he ate the naughty children in his path. “The fear in your faces was priceless; it almost outclassed the frenzy going on in this tankard of mines,” Adrius said, pounding his gut.

“Definitely better than this itsy bitsy bloke there when I gulped him down the first time,” Adrius said with a cocky grin in Hund’s direction.

“First time?” Ty said, confused.

“Well, you see. That moment before you left, I did, in fact, eat Hund. For a tough guy, your build was very… fleshy.” Adrius said, licking his lips. “Put up quite a fight in there too. Though it wasn’t Hund’s blows that set him free, but his words.”

Ty looked down at Hund in confusion. Usually, his blunt friend wouldn’t be described as a wordsmith. “What did you say to get out Hund?” Ty asked curiously.

“The only reason why you are flexing like that is that you are faking being strong,” Hund said. “After that, I told him that I could probably lift more than he can eat.”

Adrius nodded in confirmation. “It looks like you failed your side of the water. Atlas couldn’t lift the weight of the world after all.” Adrius added as he lifted his heavy gut and let it drop.

“Because you pulled a dick move and shrank me just as you were going to throw me up!” Hund yelled out.

“I simply used my mist powers to resize you for more convenient ejection. Though your essence was useful for supplementing my other meals.” Adrius said, rubbing his stomach possessively.

“So what now?” Ty asked.

“Well, I could “reclaim” the essence I distributed to the prey inside my stomach and return what I owe Hund here,” Adrius said as his stomach began gurgling.

“You are going to digest them?” Hund asked.

“That’s another way of putting it,” Adrius said.

Hund looked over at Adrius first with rage but then with resignation. “Throw up the rest of those bastards you gulped down.”
“You know that means your essence will be lost, right? You’ll stay small for a while,” Adrius explained.

“I’d rather look small than be small knowing I killed someone to get my size back,” Hund said.

Adrius gave Hund a nod, his face noticeably impressed. “Noble, I’ll acknowledge your request,” Adrius said. Adrius began moving his heavy body towards the locker room entrance when he stopped to look down at Hund.

“If you did want your size back, there is another way,” Adrius said coyly. Hund perked up an ear but said nothing.

“I am going to be rather famished after evacuating my stomach of such a fulfilling meal. Would you be interested in lunch?”

“Like with actual food?” Hund asked. Adrius chuckled and nodded. “What’s the catch?” Hund asked.

“No catch, despite your roughness, there are some shining qualities I want to distill out of you” Adrius explained.

“Great, he wants to digest me.” Hund blurted out to Ty within earshot of the massive glutton.

“I don’t always think with my stomach,” Adrius said.

“Your gut over half your body size says otherwise,” Hund responded flatly.

“Relax, pup,” Adrius said, exaggerating the tilt in his head to look down at Hund. “If I get enough to eat, I may be able to use my Mist to return you to your original size.”

Hund pondered this option briefly before opening his mouth again. “Where are you going to eat?” Hund asked.

“Do you know of any good pubs?” Adrius asked.

“Garbage.” Hund blurted out.

“Garbage? Why would you say something so ridiculous?” Adrius asked.

“Goes to the gym, eats a ton, then decides to go for a drink? I bet you’re going to get so drunk that you’ll eat me again without a second thought.” Hund explained. “Also, pub food is garbage.”

“Hund, don’t you work at a pub?” Ty whispered.

“That pub is an exception. They actually care about their food, unlike the pubs this grey-haired meathead probably is thinking of.”

Adrius looked down at Hund, irate. ”Listen, meat, you are in no position to be talking about my tastes, especially given your bite-sized state. Where I am from, my tongue was tailored to the finest.”

Hund scratched his head. “You mean Aorta?”

“Eorra,” Adrius said, annoyed. “My story is long and winding if you wish to know more about my pa-“

“Ty, can you call that Korean BBQ place we went to last week with Tanu and get a table for three?” Hund asked, interrupting Adrius.

“If you are going to keep yapping, I want to eat something. I’ll probably get my size back stuffing myself faster than you chatting about your life.” Hund explained.

“A pipsqueak like you outeating me? You know what I am capable of, right?” Adrius said with his burgeoning gut on full display.

“You haven’t seen me eat yet.” Hund fired back.

“Are you rechallenging me to something you know you are going to lose at?” Adrius said smugly.

“Are you going to cheat me again cause you know I am going to win?” Hund fired back.

With the dial tone ringing up, Ty scanned the scene before him. The two hounds had worked themselves into an argument again in the background, and Pan laying unconscious on the bench. Even though the scene looked like the ending to a lousy day, Ty smiled as he saw the beginnings of a new rivalry for Hund.

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Part two of a story I owe the Union Jackass himself,  Mistbourne. Art was created by  TankDragon. This story may be a bit rough because school (fun), but I hope you enjoy!