Simba looked at the sketch in the book. Sure enough, this was the ship he and Astral had been looking for. So many people have told tale of the captainless ship that sailed the seas, picking up treasures from the deep.

"Well, well, well, Astral, seems I was right. This IS the ship! The fabled Ship of Gloot E Naus!" Simba placed his hands on his hips and grinned haughtily.

Astral rolled his eyes while tying a knot to keep their rowboat attached to the large vessel. "Why don't we just grab the treasure and row it back to shore then, hmm?"

"I'm sensing some sarcasm there," Simba said. He grabbed hold of the rope Astral just finished tying and tugged on it. Sure enough, it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. "It's not like we had the money to buy a full ship with a full crew!"

Astral huffed and walked over to the mast. He leaned on it. "I'm only saying that, unless we were to steer this ship back to shore, our little dinghy isn't going to hold any amount of loot! It can barely hold the two of us in it."

"There's plenty of room-"

"With my large tail? And your large," Astral walked over to Simba and poked his belly, "belly? We can maybe fit ONE chest between us. But that's it! So whatever treasure we find here, we better hope it can fit."

Simba rubbed his belly and frowned. "Okay, well... why don't we just," Simba jauntily climbed the stairs and stood behind the wheel, "steer the ship?" He grasped the wheel and tried to turn it manually. To his dismay, it wouldn't budge.

"Seriously?" Astral called from below. The alien's disdain chipped at Simba's confidence.

"Okay, why don't YOU try steering the ship?" Simba suggested. He took a few steps back, expecting Astral to come up and try. Astral did not.

"It's a haunted ship... or rather, maybe it has a mechanism that automatically steers the ship based on currents?" Astral took a quick look around. "I'm going to check underneath - both for treasure and to see if I can find a mechanism."

"You need me to come along?"

"I'll holler if I need you." Astral saluted Simba before slinking through the doorway to the hull of the ship.

Simba sighed and leaned on the wheel. He placed his cheek in his hand and felt how soft it was. He winced. "Am I too fat?"

---

Simba had lost track of time, but he assumed an hour or so had passed. He was about ready to go see if Astral was okay when he heard Astral's frantic voice call from below.

"Simba! Help! Help! SIMBA!" The scream was followed by a flurry of footsteps, starting from the front of the ship and ending near the doorway Astral had gone down before.

Simba looked over the wheel. "Astral? What're you doing?"

Simba could see Astral appear from the darkness. The alien seemed to be struggling to move while carrying something in his arms. Simba assumed it was treasure. His eyes lit up and he immediately jumped over the wheel to land next to Astral.

"You did it! You got the," Simba quickly looked Astral up and down, "huh?"

Astral was not carrying any treasure chest. He wasn't even carrying any rare trinkets. Rather, he was carrying his own belly. The alien's wide, panicked eyes only seemed to further confuse Simba.

"Whaaaaat happened?" Simba asked. He leaned over and poked Astral's belly. It was soft.

"Ghost hands!" Astral gasped out. He waddled past Simba and got to the edge of the boat to start untying the knot.

Simba tilted his head and looked into the darkness of the doorway. He noticed pink flames begin to emerge from the darkness. Those very flames seemed to be shaped like hands. "Crap!"

"Stall them, Simba!" Astral called.

"Stall them?!" Simba repeated. He backed up as a pair of pink hands grasped around his wrists. He tried to shake them off, but they wouldn't let go. "Why am I stalling them?!"

"Because I'm too ****ing good at tying knots!" Astral screeched as he tried yanking on the rope. It didn't budge.

"Just cut the rope!"

"But I paid a gold for-"

"JUST CUT THE ROPE!" The hands dragged Simba to the central mast as a third hand came out of the dark, carrying a vial of a swirling, blue and pink liquid.

Simba could see, out of the corner of his eyes, that Astral had one of his knives out, but his hand was held up by another pink hand. Three other hands had pinned down Astral's other limbs while a final hand held up a vial of the same-colored liquid to Astral's mouth.

"Astral! What is tha-" Simba was cut short as the hand currently assaulting him shoved the vial in his mouth. He tasted a sweet liquid on his tongue. He couldn't pinpoint the flavor, but he didn't like how it made him feel bloated just from the taste.

"Ack!" Astral called. The alien tried to struggle against the hands, but his belly seemed to be growing to proportions that made it impossible to move. "Simba! The potion! It makes you-"

"Fat?!" Simba finished. He looked down at his belly and it could see it beginning to expand. "We gotta get outa here!"

"I'm trying!" Astral whined as two hands pulled off his poncho. The two hands then began to rub into Astral's belly.

Simba spat out the vial and clamped his mouth shut. He looked around the ship for a way to escape. Just above him, there was a loose rope that was dangling from the top of the mast he was on.

"I've got an idea, Astral... but it's really stupid!"

---

Commission for  Howler_Frostbite of his two characters on a grand adventure! He gave me artistic freedom, so I came up with a magical, fattening ship.

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Simba/Astral (C)  Howler_Frostbite

Art/Story (C)  Juntarhenogu Me