Been wanting to start writing random inflation stories with the Balloon Club characters (i.e. stories that are more their own adventures rather than backstory), and to start we have my ribbon seal Toby inflating with watermelon juice. Hope you enjoy.

Toby wants to buy a new game system and hears that donating juice can get him some easy money.

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Toby Enters the Berry Business
By: Soda-Cola

There’s a new gaming device that’s like a handheld gaming laptop, and Toby Gullivan wanted one. Unfortunately, the device was over $500, and the poor ribbon seal didn’t have enough money to afford it. He did hear of a solution from some of his friends in the Balloon Club, some juice companies would secretly pay for juice donations. The way it works is that a person would be given a chemical compound that, when drunk, would cause the person to continually produce juice inside their body, inflating them in a process called “berrification”. Becoming giant berries is a popular form of inflation for some people, they really liked the feeling of filling up with juice, and some companies are willing to pay for that juice.

Toby was mostly used to inflating with air or soda fizz, so this would be his first berry inflation. He was currently sitting in a waiting room filling out a questionnaire. Some of the questions were “Have you inflated with juice before?”, “Do you feel sick, or feel like you’re becoming sick?”, “Do you have any allergies?”, “Are you wearing stretchy clothes?”, and so on.

Toby was feeling anxious while he was waiting. Not only was he nervous about inflating from a new method but he also heard of some of the potential dangers of berry inflation. There was a small chance that the chemical mix would be too volatile and would inflate Toby until he explodes. Or maybe Toby might be allergic to the berry mix and might become a permaberry, meaning that his body would be constantly filling up and would need to be juiced daily. Though with the invention of the restore chamber, neither of those outcomes would be much of a problem. If Toby did end up exploding, he’ll just become a spirit and can get his body restored. And permaberries were a rare sight as most would just burst themselves and get restored since the mixture only affects their body, if their spirit gets affected, then they become true permaberries, which means they’ll continue to produce juice even after being restored, though that outcome pretty much never happens. While Toby didn’t really worry about becoming a permaberry (let alone a true permaberry) he’d still rather avoid any situations that would cause him to pop.

“Gullivan? Toby Gullivan?” Toby looked up to see a male chipmunk talking to him “We’re ready for you Mr. Gullivan. If you can hand over the questionnaire we can begin.” Toby stood up and handed the clipboard to the chipmunk who then read it over, “Excellent, follow me,” Toby followed the chipmunk down the hall.

“Hey,” Toby began. “This isn’t going to hurt is it?”

“Of course not,” replied the chipmunk. “I assure you, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Cool. I’ve never done this before, and I’m hoping to get through this without exploding.”

“Not to worry Mr. Gullivan. We make sure that our berrification formulas are top quality. The worst you have to worry about is whether or not you’d be allergic to our formula, in which case we’ll be more than happy to burst you ourselves and pay for your medical restoration”

The way the chipmunk phrased that sentence made Toby more nervous than before.

“You know what, that came out wrong,” the chipmunk continued. “I can personally assure you the chances of you bursting in any way are incredibly low, so there’s no need to worry.”

Toby felt a little better.

Eventually, Toby and the chipmunk entered a very large room with platforms along the walls, Toby was asked to stand on top of one of the platforms. “Now then,” said the chipmunk. “If you would drink this.” The chipmunk handed Toby a glass filled with a light red liquid, the formula that will cause Toby’s body to produce an enormous amount of juice of his choosing. Toby decided to fill with watermelon juice for his first time since it was his favorite fruit. While watermelons aren't actually a berry, berrification is just the term for being inflated with large amounts of juice and got its name because the first and most common form of berrification is blueberry.

Toby took the glass and drank the concoction. It went down rather easily and did taste like watermelon juice. He handed the glass back to the chipmunk and waited, it took only a few seconds for the formula to take effect. Toby’s face began to shift from black to green and was spreading to the rest of his body, his white stripes shifted to a lighter shade of green, soon the ribbon seal had the coloration of a watermelon.

Then Toby could feel the next stage of berrification begin. He felt full, and noticed that his belly began to expand. When Toby grabbed his tummy, he could hear and feel liquid sloshing in it. As Toby’s belly kept filling with juice it also got much heavier, he was not used to holding so much liquid. Toby felt the liquid flow into other parts of his body making him rounder and distributing the weight to make it somewhat easier to stand.

“I would advise you to rest on your stomach for the rest of the procedure before you get too large,” said the chipmunk. Toby did as he was told and rolled himself forward onto his belly. His body continued to produce gallons upon gallons of juice, turning him into a spherical watermelon. His limbs and head were sinking into his body, his skin stretching to contain the enormous amount of juice he was producing. He would have enjoyed it if he didn’t feel so heavy, though he can see why some people would enjoy this sort of thing.

After several minutes, Toby’s swelling came to a stop. The ribbon seal looked more like a mostly spherical watermelon, aside from his limbs and head resting in divots and his clothes stretched over his inflated body. He was roughly eight feet and diameter and felt so full and heavy it was overwhelming, he felt like he chugged a water tower’s worth of juice.

“How do you feel?” asked the chipmunk.

“Really full, but not bad, burp,” replied Toby groggily.

“Ah, that’s a common response I get,” said the chipmunk. “Many donors enjoy filling with juice and would do it just because they like how it feels, but for others, I suppose it’s an experience that they grow into. Now, if you would put this on, we can proceed with the juicing.” The chipmunk held up an oxygen mask with a tube sticking out of it. Toby opened his mouth and swallowed the tube until the mask was firmly attached to his face. “Now just relax, and it will be over in just a minute.”

The chipmunk then went over to a control panel and pressed some buttons. Toby knew what was going to happen now, but he was still surprised to feel something pressing down on his back. The giant press moved downward and began to squeeze the ribbon seal watermelon. “Mmmph?!” The juice that was contained inside his body was suddenly flowing in the tube into a large container. It was certainly a bizarre experience, but it also felt kind of nice, feeling all the juice flow out of him, maybe Toby should become a giant berry more often.

The giant juicer continued to press down on Toby, squirting juice down the tube. The chipmunk stood by the control panel monitoring the ribbon seal’s progress. So far, he was handling it very well. The juicer wasn’t pressing down too hard, the juice was flowing at a steady pace, and the seal was shrinking nice and easy and even seemed to be enjoying himself. Slowly but surely, the juicer managed to squeeze every ounce of watermelon juice out of Toby. A light on the control panel flashed, signifying that the juicing was done. The chipmunk raised the juice presser to reveal that Toby had returned to his original size and shape, he was still shades of green but that should go away shortly.

Toby stood up and removed the tube from his mouth. When he looked at the container, he was shocked to see how full it was. “Whoah!” he said. “Did all that juice really come from me?”

“Yep!” replied the chipmunk. “Impressive isn’t it? And may I just say that you did a fantastic job.”

“Thanks. Uh, are you sure it’s sanitary for people to drink this stuff?”

“Oh don’t worry, it’s much cleaner than you think it’d be. Now if you can fill out this survey expressing your thoughts of this experience I’ll write you your check.”

Back in the waiting room, Toby—his fur returning to its natural colors—finished filling out the survey and handed it to the chipmunk. “Excellent!” said the chipmunk after reading it over. “I’m glad you enjoyed the juicing process. Here’s your check.”

Toby was handed over a check for…$300?! That’s certainly a lot. One more juicing session should get Toby enough money to buy the new gaming system as well as a few games for it. “Thank you so much!” said Toby. “I think I’ll be back for another juicing.”

“Of course,” replied the chipmunk. “Feel free to come back anytime. Whether you need some extra cash or if it’s because you became a berry just for fun, you can get juiced here anytime you need.”

“Thanks, I might take you up on that.”