Lux hid behind the pantry door of the bakery, plotting as per usual. His boss Acorn’s life had been peaceful for the six weeks since he’d had to break Lux and Zaps out of some apple-themed cult and Lux was already planning how to further ruin his boss’s day. He played with a small bottle in his bag, which sloshed with a glowing green liquid. The dragon type who’d sold it to him had promised him dramatic results and that Acorn would be none the wiser. In preparation, Lux had managed to convince Zaps to cover his icing duty for the next hour so Lux could figure out exactly how to get the potion into Acorn. If he just shoved it down his throat Acorn might get sliiiightly suspicious, so it needed to be subtle. Looking around the pantry, he found an old empty protein bottle that Zaps must’ve left when he was going through that grindset phase. It still had some remnants inside which smelled exactly like what one would imagine five year old slightly moist protein powder to smell like, but it would have to do. Lux washed out the inside of the bottle and filled it with the glowing potion, quickly capping it. Using a small pocket lighter, a metal rod he stole from one of the machines and immense patience, he managed to reseal the edges of the cap. Trying to hide his excitement, he headed into the main part of the cafe. Acorn was busy waiting tables, carrying around trays of coffees and various baked goods. Lux waited until Acorn exited into the back area, sweating and panting, wafting himself with his shirt.
“Hey boss!” Lux cut Acorn off on his way to the pantry, catching his boss by surprise.
“Oh, Lux. Look, I’m really busy-” Acorn tried to squeeze past, but Lux blocked him.
“I got this new protein drink but I got the wrong flavour by mistake. Do you want it? It’s got electrolytes and stuff, supposed to be a really good thirst quencher.” Acorn shot him an annoyed look and tried to pass again, Lux continuing the blocking. The stantler let out an angry huff and grabbed the drink.
“Will you move if I drink this?” Lux nodded and Acorn popped the cap and drained the whole bottle in one gulp, not even bothering to check what he was drinking. He made a face before handing the empty bottle back to Lux.
“That tastes awful. Now move, or I’m going to have to consider firing you again.” Lux smiled and quickly moved out of the way, watching Acorn enter the pantry and grab a few ingredients. Acorn came back out, looked at Lux’s massive grin, and shoved an armful of ingredients at the luxray.
“Here, make yourself useful. We’re low on donuts, you know what to do.” Acorn turned heel and disappeared back to the front. Lux quickly ran over to the bakery and began mixing, excitedly thinking of what would happen in the upcoming few days.

The next day Lux came into work early to beat Acorn, something he almost never did. In fact, he usually showed up an hour or two after his shift actually started. He began prepping for the day’s work and almost on the dot, Acorn showed up at exactly 8:30, to prep for the 9:00 opening. Lux quickly ran up to greet him and tried not to seem too excited. But to his disappointment, Acorn looked completely the same. His boss was both surprised and confused Lux was there, but seemed willing to overlook it as Lux had already started some batches which meant it was just one less thing Acorn had to do. The day passed by pretty usual, though Lux did notice Acorn was getting more attention than usual from the customers. Nothing super out of the ordinary, but Acorn did seem pretty happy about it, so Lux made a mental note to do his best to prevent this in the future.
The next few days were the same, with Acorn getting more and more popular. He’d also started working with his shirt unbuttoned more and more and his pants getting shorter and shorter. The amount of attention Acorn was getting, even from Zaps who was usually as daft as a log, was starting to really piss Lux off. The potion was supposed to ruin Acorn’s week, not improve it. Growling to himself, he tore his apron off at the end of his shift and stormed off, tail lashing behind him. Neither Acorn nor Zaps seemed to notice, the two laughing and joking with each other, which made Lux even saltier.

“What the hell! I didn’t pay you to make him popular!” The dragonite mostly ignored Lux, moving from shelf to shelf in the shop. Lux followed him, still shouting, until the dragonite placed a single claw on the end of Lux’s snout.
“Shush, you’re giving me a headache. A potion that does what you want takes time. Give it another week and if you still don’t see any results, give him another dose. Here, on the house.” He tossed another bottle to Lux who instantly caught it, staring down at the glowing liquid. Grimacing at having to further wait, he waved as he left the shop, the bottle jingling in his bag.
The next few days were hell for Lux. People were starting to come to the cafe just to meet Acorn and take photos with him. He’d started working in a tank top and gym shorts, smiling as he hummed along to his favourite song. The most change Lux had noticed was a sliiight increase in Acorn’s waistline, creating a very faint muffintop, but other than that, nothing! Lux glared over at Acorn, who was happily dancing along to a song while he worked and snorted.
“Nice shorts.”
“Thanks!” Acorn smiled at Lux. It was sickening. “I figured I should get something that shows my figure off better, y’know, cause of everything.” Lux cocked his head slightly, looking Acorn up and down.
“Oh, yeah, I guess that makes sense.” Lux mumbled under his breath, turning back to his donut.
“Lux, you don’t have to pretend. Honestly, it’s mostly thanks to you! Whatever was in that drink you gave me, that must’ve been it! I ordered some more, in case you want to try it, it’s actually pretty good!” Lux’s ears perked up and he immediately began plotting again.

“Hey boss, the shipment came in!” Lux had just spent the last hour filling each and every bottle with potion. The dragonite gave him a deal for bulk buying, as well as a weird look, but hey, potions! Acorn grinned as Lux handed him one, immediately downing the potion.
“Perfect! It’s so weird, the ones I ordered before tasted so different, must’ve been a bad batch! This stuff’s great!” Acorn quickly downed another and reached for a third. Lux watched in excitement as the stantler drank at least five bottles back to back, before letting out a small burp and wiping the sides of his mouth.
“Ahhh, that hits the spot. Can you put the rest in the fridge, I’ll probably have them after closing! Gotta go serve, make sure the cupcakes are iced!” Acorn disappeared back to the front and Lux did a quick air fist bump. He grabbed the pink icing bag and started on the rose cupcakes, thinking excitedly of what would happen. How intense would that muttontop get, especially with Acorn now wearing such revealing clothes. Lux’s daydreams imagined a multitude of results, each more dramatic than the last. He would’ve continued if he hadn’t accidentally emptied an entire icing bag onto one cupcake and quickly scrapped it back into the bag to redo it before Acorn noticed it. Zaps entered the room carrying a massive bag of flour they’d gotten delivered and once he dropped it off, Lux stopped him.
“Hey Zaps, you noticed anything new about the boss?” Zaps cocked his head slightly, but quickly broke into a huge smile.
“Very funny Lux! He told me about your little drinks, nice try. You’re gunning for employee of the month, eh?” Zaps elbowed Lux slightly, his tail wagging happily behind him. “Wish I could’ve been the one to find those! Say, you wouldn’t happen to have any extra? I’d ask the boss but he’s pretty busy right now.” Lux stopped rubbing his side and perked up instantly, eyes flashing with opportunity. Getting Acorn by himself was great, but Acorn and Zaps? Perfect.
“Oh yeah, I’ve got tons! I’ll bring you a case tomorrow!”
“Great! Sick, awesome, yeah! Cool! Tomorrow, yes!” Zaps jumped and did a little fist bump, before running off. Lux watched the empty door frame for a bit after he left, wondering exactly how much this was going to cost him. But, shrugging his shoulders, he figured it would be worth it. He returned to icing, smiling to himself about all the chaos he could bring.

It’d been about a week and he had both Acorn and Zaps drinking about two potions each a day. The potion seller just stared at him when he ordered enough potion to fill a small concrete truck, but it was worth it. That small muffintop of Acorn’s had ballooned into what Lux would call a whole bakery top. The stantler was now so wide Lux couldn’t help but hold his breath every time Acorn went through a doorway, praying for him to get stuck. Lux even made sure he always got anything from the pantry as Acorn probably wouldn’t even be able to fit in there. Best part, his boss didn’t even notice. Even when his shirt sagged up his belly, when the ground shook underneath each step, when the space between counters was just a little too tight, when his pants rode up a bit higher than they should, Acorn was none the wiser. Heck, he even seemed convinced he was losing weight. Plus, his trend of wearing less and less continued, with the shirt problem shortly disappearing. Lux got to enjoy a massive mound of brown and cream fur without obstruction and he wasn’t even getting yelled at for it.
Zaps was gaining in leaps and bounds as well, with Lux suspecting that he was stealing some of Acorn’s stock to catch up. The boltund wasn’t as rotund yet, but was he trying. He too was having some problems with doorways, though to a lesser degree. It’d been a few days since Lux had been forced to shove him through a doorway or two, but at least the boltund had finally realized that he couldn’t fit into the pantry anymore. Zaps hadn’t gone as far with the whole clothes removal as Acorn, but he was definitely on that track. The only top each wore was their apron, though that didn’t cover up much of the fat. Both Acorn and Zaps had gone up a few apron sizes, not that they noticed as Lux was the one in charge of making sure everyone’s aprons were clean at the end of the day and switching them out was easy enough with the two busy talking with customers.
Speaking of customers, the cafe was more popular than ever. Mons would flood in from across the region to eat there, with news crews coming to take photos. Lux was always ushered to the back for these photos, but he was pretty happy to watch from the sidelines as Zaps and Acorn flexed for the cameras, or as much as they could with the weight they’d put on. Sure, he was flooded with orders and tons of requests, but watching Zaps and Acorn unwittingly grow in size was worth it. Plus, the photos the news published didn’t seem too bad, Acorn seemed even heavier in print than in person. Granted, it wasn’t the conventional body type Lux was used to seeing in the papers and when he saw Zaps on the cover of a magazine at the corner store he nearly spit his drink out, but other than that everything was going pretty alright.

“Lux, can you grab me a box of donuts? We’ve got an order.” Lux quickly packed the box, looking up at his boss every few donuts. The past two weeks had been a dream. Acorn looked down at him, the stantler barely recognizable. Every part of his body that could store fat did. His face and neck had rounded out and his silhouette resembled that of a sphere, with his arms held slightly out to the sides of his body by his mere size. Lux couldn’t help but stare at the massive cream belly in front of him, trying everything in his power not to smash his whole face into it. He passed the box up to Acorn, who strained to grab it, but managed to get his hooves around it. He quickly turned around and left, Lux watching every part of him bounce as he disappeared out to the front of the cafe. Looking down at his bag beside him, Lux could see bottle after bottle of the potion. He didn’t even have to rebottle it anymore, Zaps and Acorn being happy to simply drink it right out of the potion bottle. Both were up to five bottles a day and while Acorn was still mostly keeping up with the orders and massive surge in popularity, Zaps had completely stopped. It seemed that Lux’s theory of Zaps sneaking drinks was true, as the boltund had put on so much weight he simply couldn’t move anymore. He’d settled himself into a corner of the staff room and as long as Lux brought him potions, he couldn’t be happier. Acorn seemed not to have noticed Zaps disappearance, or perhaps he didn’t care. The stantler barely seemed to register anything happening around him, let alone his employees going missing. The cafe had closed an hour ago and Lux was pretty sure Acorn was just sneaking off to eat the donuts himself, but he kept his snout shut. Whatever spell these potions had them under, he didn’t want to break it.
“Lux, hey, can I just… sit here for a second?” Lux didn’t answer before Acorn slammed onto the floor, sending shockwaves across the room. The deer was panting and leaned back against the wall, finally hitting the mark Lux had been hoping for.
“You need help boss?” Lux offered a paw and Acorn grabbed it, but he only managed to slightly lean forward before collapsing back onto his butt. This fall had jolted Lux forward, sending him careening into Acorn’s belly. The fur was incredibly soft but Lux jerked back, not wanting to break the magic.
“Lux?” Acorn was breathless.
“Yeah boss?” Lux sat across from Acorn, looking up at the massive deer.
“What do I look like to you?”
“Like a Stantler? Normal type, from johto? Basic first stage, based on a deer-”
“You know what I mean.” Lux’s stomach sank and he realized that he may have gone a bit too far.
“You’re probably pushing around 1500 pounds.” Acorn nodded at this and looked over at him, sheer exhaustion in his eyes.
“I assume this is your doing?”
“Yeahhhhh…”
“Good,” Acorn flopped onto his side and yawned, “That makes me feel less guilty about this.” Before Lux could move, Acorn reached out and grabbed him, pulling him close like a stuffed animal. Slowly, despite Lux’s protests, Acorn rolled over onto his belly and crushed Lux under his chest, only the luxray’s head poking out.
“Hey! Wait, I can fix it-” Acorn shushed Lux and settled down, his eyes slowly drooping shut.
“You can fix it once I sleep off the weight. Get comfy, we’re gonna be here for a while.” Before Lux could respond, Acorn’s head dropped, effectively trapping Lux in place. “See you in a few months.”
“Acorn, wai-” the deer only responded with snores, Lux left to think over his past actions while being crushed beneath hundreds of pounds of his own doing.