Fourth week in the market, and it was official. Bloating Soda was an unrivalled success. Ariel stood in her new office, smiling as she looked out on the city. Her soda was the only one of its kind on the shelves, so there was almost no competition. To be fair, a soft drink that tasted good and made your gut inflate like a balloon was a pretty original idea.
"The sweet smell of success! … And newly dried paint, but mostly success. Hehehe." She was on Cloud Nine. It felt great knowing how successful she had become. She hadn't even checked her bank account yet, and she was already revelling in what she had achieved. Sitting down in her chair, she felt like popping open a glass of champagne.
"Ms. Ariel," beamed the intercom, "There's someone here to see you. She's a scientist, apparently."
"A scientist?" The champagne popping would have to wait. "Best not keep her waiting. Send her in."
After a brief moment of waiting, the door opened. Stepping in was a tall, blonde haired woman, obviously taking a page from Farah Fawcett's book of hair styles, and sporting a very confident smile, briefcase in hand. Also worthy of note was her white lab coat and goggles. She was going to guess that her assistant didn't even ask what her occupation was.
"Hello!" She announced, almost as if she was expecting a round of applause. "You must be Ariel, the genius responsible for the creation of the greatest soft drink of all time?"
"Um...If you really like Bloating Soda, then yeah, that's me. Is there something I can help you with, Doctor...?"
She smiled. "Gass. Opal Gass to be specific." That name sounded so familiar. Where had she heard it before? "And the question is, how can I help you? How can I possibly improve perfection?"
"Well, by definition, you can't. It's the ultimate, and best version of something. But having said that, I'm willing to admit the soda 'isn't perfect. You have some ideas?"
"Such modesty. Always a good characteristic in leaders. Yes, my dear, I have a few little concepts we can work with." She opened up the briefcase and pulled out a sheet of paper, handing it to Ariel.
"What's this?"
"I took a look at the ingredients for BL and made some tiny modifications here and there. Tell me, what is the most popular aspect of Bloating Soda?"
"The fact that it inflates your stomach? Turns out a lot more people are into that than we'd initially thought."
"Quite right. So, I thought that we'd double their pleasure if we octupled the results."
"You mean-"
"Bigger belly, bigger sales. Right on the money." Ariel looked up from the paper in surprise as her guest sat herself down on the table, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "What's the current commercial for Bloat? A ridiculous, if ravishing superheroine using her Soda inflated belly to cushion her landing and save the day. How big does her belly go? Pretty big, yeah. A few sizes beyond pregnant, for sure."
"Yeah? Almost two million hits on Youtube."
"Here's your next one. We open on our lovely lady of justice running across some rooftops. She finally encounters who she's after; a woman with an eye patch, flowing red hair, a cape, and a general sort of, M. Bison thing going on. They fight. Good Girl whips out some Bloating Soda Classic, and literally knocks our villainess to the curb. Then, she pulls out some Bloating Soda Max, and not only bounces Ms. Goody-Two-Shoes away, but levels the whole building. Tagline: Being Bad feels Good, Indulge."
"..."
"What do you think?"
"Um...It sounds like it'd be fun to film."
"So you like it?"
"But, the bad guy wins."
"Yeah. What's the problem?"
"Well, we've got a pretty big 'Feel good' vibe going on for us. I don't want our commercials ending on a downer."
"It's not like you can't make more. Heroine gets revenge using something she won from some Sports thing your sponsoring or something."
"Well, it isn't a bad concept. I could just switch who gets the New Bloating Soda."
"But that'd ruin the whole point of the advert. The eye patch girl has to win."
"Why?"
"...Because its the whole point! Heroes winning are cliché, you don't want your company to fall into that territory, do you?"
"Dr. Gass, do you have something against good guys?"
"Nope, they're okay in my book."
"Are you sure? Because you seem pretty adamant on our mascot getting her ass kicked."
"I'm not a Hero-Hater, Ariel. Heck, I'm a huge Deadpool fan."
"You really think Deadpool is the shining standard of 'Good Guy?'"
"Look, anyway, the commercial isn't the point I'm trying to make. What I am trying to get across, is that my new Bloating Soda Max formula can take this company from 'Success Story of the Decade' to 'Coke's Assassin.' What do you say?"
She looked at the formula and sighed. She wasn't used to this part, she much preferred discussing the sponsorships. "Well, to be quite blunt Doctor, I think its a bad idea.
"...What?"
"I'll start you off with the first thing. The bellies produced by Bloating Soda are a little more complicated than 'Drink, grow belly.' The formula works specifically to grow the belly to a specific size; the perfect size, for our situation anyway. Big enough to make your jaw drop, but small enough to avoid too many problems."
"I've got a problem. They're not big enough!" Her tone shifted away from the friendliness she had been gushing out since she stepped in the door.
"Second, we're just getting started. I think its a bit early to be bringing out side products anyway."
"So, you hate the idea?"
"I wouldn't use such a strong word."
"No, no I see how it is. Fair enough. It was pretty silly of me to just barge in here and try to throw my ideas around before you even hit your prime."
"Glad we could work this out peacefully."
"Yeah. It'd be pretty sucky to be an enemy of your favourite company."
"I can imagine. Though, since you did go to all this trouble and seem to love the product so much, why don't we hook you up with a free case of BL on the way out?"
"That'd be nice. But I know something we can both enjoy."
"Oh?" Ariel rose an eyebrow. She was really adamant about taking up her afternoon, wasn't she? Her irritation took a whole new turn as Gass's legs suddenly wrapped around her waist.
"You, me, a bottle of BL and a hot tub? You don't need to be a scientist to figure out this equation," she smiled, putting her hands to Ariel's shoulders and licking her lips in a rather suggestive manner.
The blue streaked woman didn't know how to react. That was quite a proposition, and she felt a tingling sensation all over her body. She reached her hand out, pressing her finger down on a small red button. "SECURITY!!!"
"Oh what?" She could hear them running up the stairs that very moment. "Come on! I'm in a lab coat and goggles! This'd be an awesome story to tell your friends later on!"
She pulled herself off the table with an irritated grumble as she heard the footsteps coming up the stairs. Finally, two men burst in through the doors. Instantly they recognised who they had to remove from the area, and grabbed Opal by the shoulders.
"Looks like the doctor is out," one of them laughed, obviously having wanted to say that for a while.
"Nice one. Now you just need to wait for a nun to break in and we can use that penguin joke."
"Yeah."
Opal was suddenly silent. A bit of a smile was on her face, yet one could feel the tension beaming off of her skin. "I... am not that kind of doctor."
Before anything could be said, two athletic security guards crashed down onto the floor. In the building next door, after crashing through two sets of window.
Ariel sat with her jaw dropped to the floor as Opal turned to her. "Okay, so perhaps I do in fact have a problem with good guys. They make being a bad guy difficult."
It suddenly all clicked for Ariel. While this was definitely the first time they had actually encountered each other, this 'Dr. Gass' had made her presence clear to her once before. "You! You're the psycho that bloated the president!"
"Wow, your kind of slow for someone who owns a highly successful company, aren't you? I wasn't even in disguise! Yep, that was me."
"That almost killed us! 'UN Summit destroyed by US President's inflated stomach, Bloating Soda responsible?' It's a miracle nobody died, let alone the company still being a success!"
"Oh please! She was fine! Everyone makes this huge deal about what happened...And I love every syllable. Why don't you tell me how I'm a menace to society? Just tell me, slowly." Even with her goggles on, a suggestive wink was clearly seen.
The blue streaked woman grabbed the phone and hit speed dial.
"What was that?"
"More security. Fortunately some of my associates were a little too enthusiastic and basically hired a small army. I'll be sure to..." Gass had produced something from her bag. It looked like a water pistol. As she fired it between the two office doors, it seemed to be a water pistol full of quick dry cement.
"In that case, lets see what we can negotiate while they're trying to knock down the door.
"Oh crap..."
Ariel almost shrieked as Opal pushed her to the wall. "Now Ariel, sweety. I don't need your permission to take over this company. Not at all. I can just snap your neck and throw together some doctored note with you leaving your company to me. Or hell, put on a blue streaked wig and just hide you body in a closet. But no, you would be fortunate enough to gain my favour. So, I'm going to ask you nicely. Please can well sell my soda?"
"No!" She threw her fist violently towards the Doctor, quickly finding it caught in the woman's palm.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Maybe I will have to snap your neck after all."
"I'd -uh, prefer you didn't."
"Duh. But don't worry, I came with something a little different in mind." She pulled something out of her jacket. A silver canister. "Can you guess what's in here?"
"Yes, but I'm really hoping its just soup."
She smiled and began screwing off the cap, apparently going as slowly as possible. She was kind of cruel that way. Finally popping it off, she drew it to her lips and emptied a few drops onto her tongue, flicking them down her throat. It was not soup.
Ariel looked down towards her captive's waist. She could hear it gurgling, in a manner all too familiar to her. "Bloating Soda...That's your own mix, isn't it?"
A button flew off of her lab coat. "Bingo!" Ariel looked down in near horror as her fleshy pink belly began pushing its way out of the jacket and towards her. It was then something else occurred to her.
"Oh my god! You're naked under that!?"
"Don't be stupid. I'm wearing underwear." She popped a button and swerved her behind towards her victim. "See?"
"No, I do not see!" She said, shielding her eyes. She could admit it, that was being a bit silly. It wasn't like seeing another woman's ass was going to kill her, but at this stage her level of 'Freaked Out' had reached an all time high.
"Don't be such a baby! Now, time to take your medicine." Her belly had just stopped expanding. It was bigger than the regular variety of Bloating Soda belly. And she just gulped down a few drops. This wasn't going to end well. Especially since the damn canister was right at her lip!
"NO! YOU'RE GONNA MAKE ME BURST YOU PSYCHO!" Swinging her hand as hard as a rock, she knocked the cylinder right out of her hand, right into Opal's face. A bit shocked that she was finally reacting, Opal's mouth had dropped a centre-meter or two. You can guess where most of the soda went.
She hit the floor, face vacant. The silence was so deadening, somehow it seemed to drown out the guards beating at the door.
And then, Opal's lips began to curve upwards, quickly revealing her pearly white teeth to Ariel. "Urp. Excuse me."
"Oh...What have you done?"
"Me? Seriously? You're saying this is my fault? How about next time I blow up someone's car, I tell them its their fault for having a car to put a bomb in."
Ariel didn't have time to reply to her, or even point out that this wouldn't have happened if she hadn't brought in the canister. But then again, what was she trying to get across? That she did something she'd be happy about?
She ran to the window. Then to the door, still being beaten by a gang of guards. Opal just sat down on the table again with a smile the size of the moon plastered onto her face. She didn't even bother looking down at her expanding girth; and in a few moments, she wouldn't have to.
"Dammit! How do I fix this?"
"Fix what darling? My burning passion? Because many have tried, but all have-"
"Shut up! You know what I mean. How do I stop this?"
"Why would I tell-Urp!-you-Ooooh!" She clucked her growing stomach on the last syllable. "Okay, yeah, maybe a reason."
"Ha! If you get too big, you'll be too heavy, the room will break apart, and you'll fall off the building."
"Or, possibly crush it beneath me."
"Either way, you're in for a lot of pain." So was she, but mentioning that would probably take away from the intimidation.
"But it feels so good..." She seemed to be groping her own gut. Almost outgrowing herself in size, she could have easily been just trying to move her hands away. Though considering who she was, that seemed unlikely. "Okay, yeah. This is a bit of a predicament."
"Then start thinking, Doc!"
She put a finger to her chin. "Okay, there is one way I know of. You're not going to like it."
"Come on! Now is not the time!" She took a step back, the pink sphere bulging out further and further, now resting on the floor and just bigger than the woman attached to it.
"You're gonna have to pash me."
"..."
She nodded.
"...What?"
"Kiss me. You're gonna have to kiss me on the lips, with tongue."
"Oh, bullshit!"
"I'm serious! I altered the recipe to react to a release of endorphins, the detection of arousal, oral moisture and a several other factors so that the only way to deactivate the serum was to have a passionate kiss."
"You can't be-Why the f*ck would you do something like that?"
"Because I'm a sexual predator!"
She had a point. "Fine!" Ariel ran to her side and pecked her on the lip.
"I said with tongue! How is that with tongue?"
"I heard you, I'm just building myself up!"
"Yeah, you can go build yourself up when your buildings crushed under my moon sized gut!"
"You think I'm not worried? Come on, at least I'm not enjoying this on some level!"
"Haven't you ever been to college? Big party, had too much to drink? What kind of woman are you?"
"I can't take this!" Grabbing Opal by the shoulders, she yanked the woman close and smacked her lips around hers. Had it not been for the car sized belly weighing her down, she'd have jumped in surprise.
After performing what felt like a Yoga class with her tongue, she finally broke aware, instantly spitting onto the floor. "That passionate enough for you?"
The immense tummied woman huffed and breathed deeply. She'd need a moment to recover from that little assault. "Y-y-yeah."
"...THEN WHY ARE YOU STILL GROWING!?"
"Because...I'm a back stabbing bitch," she smiled.
She stood silent. Even as the pink flesh began pushing her away, she didn't move. Except for her fist, which was being clenched rock hard. "Maybe...if I hit you hard enough the air will just fly out!"
Her fist surging with more anger than she had ever felt in her life, Ariel punched Opal in the stomach. Deep into the stomach. She lost her entire arm in the expanding orb. The villainess began to laugh hysterically as the enraged CEO continued to dig her fist in deeper and deeper, still quite a distant away from her torso.
"Why...won't...you...pop!?"
"I don't feel like it," she laughed, "But maybe you'll have more luck."
"What the hell does that mean?" She looked down. Her hand relaxed. The belly shot her flying into a wall. "Damnit! You-" She felt it.
Her belly was growing. She drank her precious Soda quite a bit, so she knew the feeling pretty well. Not to mention the more obvious sign of her gut pushing her shirt up.
"How'd this happen, you're wondering? Well..." Opal's tongue seemed to wriggle around her mouth. Then she spat something to the floor. A tiny metal canister. An empty tiny metal canister. "I'm a smart chick, so I tend to plan ahead on these sorts of things."
"You slipped me your super Soda when you kissed me?"
"I hardly think it was me kissing you, sweety."
"Great! Now I couldn't let you run the product even if I wanted to! By the time I get back to my desk I'll be too big to move!"
"What a fine predicament you've gotten us into."
"ME?! If I could reach past your gut I'd wring your neck!"
"But you can't. Thems the breaks."
Ariel stood up, and immediately fell flat on her face, her belly being enormously heavy and all now. "My entire company destroyed just because you're a horny psychopath! I am genuinely having difficulty understanding this!"
Their bellies bumped together. Somehow Ariel felt even more uncomfortable than before. She immediately began moving away from the looming pink goliath, but at its size, and with her own growing belly, it was almost impossible to avoid. It just pressed against everything! The floor, the wall, the furniture, it almost felt like someone was lightly punching it!
"If this keeps up I'm gonna...UUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRPPPPPP!" The room seemed to shake! Given the weight already crushing down on the floor, this wasn't a good thing. Opal smiled. One of few things she loved more than a big belly was hearing a good belch. She was in heaven. But both of them noticed something else. Something very noticable indeed.
Ariel's belly was flat.
"A burp? All I had to do was burp?"
"What? No! It's supposed to be irreversible! How did I miss something like that?"
"Don't know don't care. All I do know right now is that you forced yourself into my office, sexually assaulted me, tried to take over my company, beat up my guards, almost destroyed my entire building, damn near killed me, inflated my gut against my will, and now I'm angry enough to punch you into another galaxy. And seeing as how I can reach over my belly now, I think I might try it!"
"Been there, done that. Shouldn't you be running or-"
The image that followed was truly quite bizarre. People in the building over were still confused as to where these two security guards fell from, and the people in the street were wondering why two people jumping out of a window and how they got such great distance. And now they had to see a chunk of a wall burst off of the building as an enormous cream coloured sphere flew out, soared across the sky and headed for the lake. Two cities over. Needless to say, the ensuing splash wasn't too kind to the cities budget.
"You're banned...for life..." Ariel collapsed to the floor. It would be a half hour before the doors were finally knocked over and she was tended to. It would be a few days before they found out her burst of super strength was a side effect of releasing certain components of its recipe in her belch. It'd be months until she got her office rebuilt.
And it'd be an eternity before Dr. Opal Bianca Gass got over meeting the woman of her dreams. Banned for life or not, she had a feeling they'd cross paths again very soon.