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This is a story I wanted to make for Juicy July, but at the same time, I decided to add the Forth of July theme on here as well with my custom-made characters on here. Hope you all enjoy the story!
Three friends are about to get ready to go home after lighting up some fireworks. Unfortunately, an eagle chews some blueberry-flavored gum which changed their plans.
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The darkness had seconds left to cave in the night sky onto the ground, with stars dotted in it’s blackened color and the moon being the sacred light source, only to be outplayed by a stream of colors, from red, blue, white, yellow, and green, as the fireworks being popped and combusted into a rainbow explosion fills the night. Below the sky's the field, which is nothing more than flat grass that’s less than an inch tall and rocks embedded into the ground, that isn't accompanied by a town nor any villages that could ruin the beautiness of the vastness. Except, it already has. Three friends, a white-feathered eagle, a lightly brown-furred bobcat with black spots all over his body, and a dark brown-furred buffalo, are enjoying the time of their life lighting the fireworks they have saved up for the past week. They had to purchase the fireworks early before the crowd would take everything in stock. The county they live in only has two stores that sell fireworks, and at times those stores can be turned upside down like a Black Friday. [KABOOM!] Another firework bursts into the sky, showing off a red and blue glow of sparks flying out from all directions before its shreds of paper fall to the ground and fading away quickly. “I like that one. Those colors represent our country almost perfectly. Just need to add some white.” Jackson, the bobcat says as he adored the firework he lit up. Jackson is wearing dark blue shorts with a belt around his soft waist, sneakers with laces tied loosely, a Hawaiian themed buttoned shirt but with its buttons off just so Jackson can let his chubby furry belly loose and exposed for his buddies. The bobcat is the kind of guy who adventures and experiences new things, now matter the risk. He’s been arrested on charges for speeding about three times and has done community service. That’s because he sees himself as a free spirit who wants to live in a world full of chaos. Jackson looks over at his two friends, the buffalo and the eagle who were getting ready for the other fireworks from the back of the buffalo’s pickup truck.
Though looking at those fireworks, there’s only a scarce of them left. The buffalo chuckles when he reads the title of one of those fireworks. “This one sounds promising. The Dragon’s Wrath.” Ned, the buffalo, loves dragons so this firework will do him perfectly. He opens the box and takes out what looked like a small rocket-shaped firework with a long fiber fuse on the bottom. Ned is a friendly yet sometimes a bully friend. He’ll pick on the bobcat and the eagle by being short compared to the buffalo. And sometimes the eagle hates that while Jackson laughs with him for it. But he does love his friends so he’ll make sure that his jokes aren’t too sensitive and that he isn’t harassing them or making them feel too uncomfortable. He does apologize more to the eagle than the bobcat. Ned wears a white tank top and cargo shorts with no shoes as his hooves are tough enough to walk around, with a muscular form that tells that the buffalo has been hitting the gym several days a week. “Give me the lighter.” He looks over at the eagle who has the lighter next to him.
“Sure, here you go.” Xavier, the eagle, hands Ned the lighter before checking the pile to see what else is left. Xavier is a sensitive and introverted friend. He always hates the outside due to his social anxiety. But with him away from society besides his two close friends, he can consider this night perfect for him. Though he would prefer if it were quieter than this, rather than blowing up fireworks and lighting the night sky up like creating a man-made sun. The only reason he’s here is because his friends asked for him to come and as someone who can trust the bobcat and the buffalo who has given him nothing but friendship and comfort, he was willing enough to come. Xavier wears a red collar shirt, beige shorts just like Ned’s, no shoes since his talons are both sharp and long enough to not fit any, and gloves so whenever he tries to light things, he won’t catch his feathered hands on fire. “Oh, hey Ned and Jackson. Don’t forget to clean up the place. I hate littering.” The eagle tells the two while separating the big fireworks from the poppers, firecrackers, and the smaller fireworks. He still ponders about the helium tank that’s all the way in the back of the bed, like they were gonna use it for something. Ned said that he forgot to put it away before their arrival to the fields but Ned always says that whenever Xavier or Jackson question him about it.
“Yeah, right. Who’s gonna come here?” Jackson scoffs, not giving a care about picking up his own trash. He’s got to get up early in the morning for work and he’s not going to waste that extra time cleaning up scraps of blown up and flamed fireworks if they’re the only ones who know this place.
Xavier crosses his arms and pouts. “It’s not funny, Jackson!” The eagle screeches softly in anger.
This heating argument causes Ned to get involved. “Calm down you two. You can argue more after our fireworks.” Ned tells them before he sets his favorite firework down onto the ground where the burnt remains of the others are, away from both the truck and his friends. The lighter he uses is one of those sparkwheel kinds, with a silvery metal covering and a logo name branded onto the side which reads, [Fire & Steel]. It’s a company who produces and sells camping supplies and construction equipment. A company that Ned works at as a stocker for its shelves and trays. For him it’s a good place to work at as a start, but the buffalo believes he can do better if he can get a degree in college for engineering. Ned flips the sparkwheel until a flame spews out, a rather large one in fact. He bends his knees and downwardly gets close to the fuse connected to the enormous firework. Putting the flame as close as he can to the fuse, engulfing it like the flame was eating the flammable threads. Then suddenly, the sparks light up, running down the rope as it gets closer to the rocket itself. As for Ned, he runs back to his friends so that in case fire starts to spit beneath the Dragon’s Wrath like a rocket ship taking off.
Seconds later the rocket takes off into the sky with success and no misfires. Its bang is just as loud as gunfire going off at close distance or a grenade exploding right in front of their ears. The sky lights up again with colors of red and black spreading outwards. “Awesome!” Jackson said in awe, covering his eyes a bit so the brightness of the exploded and colorful firework doesn’t blind him. So did Xaiver too who hated the sound that he had to shut his eyes and cover his ears completely. Xavier hates loud noises, most likely because it scares him and that it annoys him. “Was that the last big one?” Jackson asks while he turns around to the truck bed. So far there were a couple more left and some small stuff that he’ll leave for Xavier.
“That might be our last one for tonight. We have to get to bed now…..” Ned looks down at his watch that reads almost midnight. “Oh wow, we’ve been here for a couple hours!” They started around eight when the sun began to set down and now they spent almost four hours. “Let’s clean up and go home.” Ned said as he and Xavier went over to the pile of used fireworks and cleaned them all up.
For Jackson he groaned. “Ugh, I hate work!” He complains, looking at the remaining rockets sitting there. “No way we’re just gonna waste these for nothing.”
Ned looks back at the bobcat, picking up some of the colder trash while Xavier takes the hotter ones due to him wearing protective gloves. “We can save them another time. But just to remind you that if me and Xavier leave you here with the rest of the fireworks, you have no car to get back home with.” Ned has a point, with the buffalo and the eagle taking the truck, how will the bobcat go back home? His house is miles away from where they’re at.
“I hate you so much….” Jackson softly growls at him in anger. With no other choice, he unwillingly helps the two pick up all the trash and dump it into the very back of the truck. The eagle yawns and smacks his lips, being the tired one out of the three of them. His tongue felt dry, along with his throat. He hadn’t gotten water since dinner, which was around seven. He needed something to help either hydrate or just to wet up his tongue again.
“Hey Ned, do you have anything to drink? I’m thirsty here.” Xavier asks.
“Check the passenger's seat in the front, in the cup holders. I’m not sure if there is a bottle of water or not.” Dan can’t remember at all so it’s up to the eagle to take a look. Xavier opens the car door from the front passenger’s side and takes a look.
As to his disappointment, there isn’t any water for him to drink. “Dang. Nothing here!” He shouts over Ned to tell him the bad news.
“Sorry, bud.” That’s all the buffalo has to say. He continues his work and the three are halfway done. Xavier pouts and still looks in the truck just in case he missed them. In the cupholder between the seats and in front of the shift stick, there was something inside. It’s a piece of gum, wrapped in foil perfectly with no indication of what brand it is. Still, gum can be useful to help satisfy his tongue and get the juices out of it as some sort of hydration. Grabbing the gum out of the cupholder, the eagle unwraps it to see that the color of the gum is blue. Off the tip of his tongue, he can already assume that the flavor has to be blueberry or blue raspberry. The only way he can find out is if he chews it. So popping it into his mouth, he begins to chew it softly.
Blueberry is the flavor, one that Xavier is savoring. “Mmmmmm, tasty.” He loves blueberries, unlike Jackson who’s a fan of regular cherries and Ned who enjoys strawberries and watermelons more. Smacking the gum around in his beak, he checks up with the other two.
Jackson is worn out by bending down to pick up stuff and walking all the way to the truck to toss it in the bed. “Can we be done now? I’m tired and I didn’t want to clean up this crap!” He keeps complaining like a spoiled child.
“Maybe if you exercised more instead of being fat, you wouldn’t be tired.” Ned insults him, though he is pointing out a fact. Jackson snarls at him and grumbles something to himself. “But I guess it really is a lot to clean up. Not to mention that it’s a waste of time to get the smallest pieces.” Ned sighs, finishing up his load of trash and closing the trunk door tightly. “Let’s get home.”
“Sweet!” Xavier said, still chewing the blueberry gum in his mouth. The taste is addicting, not to mention is helping his mouth get rid of the dryness inside. What’s stranger is the fact that this stick of gum keeps producing more juice for him to swallow, like some sort of illusion that looks small from the outside yet larger. Maybe this gum is like a sponge and he is squeezing out the contents. “I’m ready to go home.” The eagle says, eager to get back home to get a good night's rest.
Jackson didn’t mind the sight of Xavier chewing the gum, in fact he thought that the eagle was lucky enough to get one. As for Ned, he’s more of the opposite. His face shows a sign of worryness and a bit of anxiety. With his eyes widened when he looked at the eagle and his tail drooping to the ground in fear. “Hey bud, where did you get that gum?” He questions, his tone fragile as glass and close enough to panic.
Xavier, chewing the gum more harshly, takes a good notice of Ned's expression. He looks scared, maybe even terrified. “I got it from your truck….in the cupholder.” Again, Ned can feel his heart racing just by hearing that come from the eagle’s beak.
He has one more question to ask him. “W-what flavor is it?”
“Blueberry, why?” This is where things go downhill as Ned almost had a panic attack.
“Oh no…..” He said to himself quietly. “Y-You really need to spit out that gum now, Xavier.” He orders, shaking in his hooves. Xavier wishes he can listen to Ned like he always does, but the taste of the blueberry flavored gum was so good to his taste buds.
“What’s the big deal? It’s just gum.” Jackson doesn’t take it seriously and doesn’t pay attention to Ned's dreadful face. “Was it yours?”
“Please Xavier, you really need to spit it out!” Ned ignores Jackson’s question as he keeps telling the eagle to spit out the gum.
“I can’t, man. It tastes awesome! How bad is one piece of gum?” Just as he said those words, something happens a few seconds later that causes both the bobcat and the buffalo to now feel more worried about their eagle friend. “W-what? What are you two looking at?” The eagle feels upset about the situation that he doesn’t know about.
“Your face dude! It’s blue now!” Jackson is the first to speak, pointing his finger right on Xavier’s blue beak. In fact, his entire head is blue, just like the shade of the gum he’s chewing. It’s like he had a face paint session with each of his feathers colored in blue rather than white with a yellow beak.
Xavier still keeps chewing, even if the stuff he’s hearing from his friends makes him more frightened. “What do you mean my face is blue? I feel fine!”
Ned looks down to see that his feathered arms and legs are blue as well, like he knew that was going to happen. “Oh dear! It’s too late……” He whimpers, stepping back a bit. “I’m so sorry about this.” He deeply apologies to Xavier.
The eagle finally looks at his arms, squawking in shock. “What the! Why am I blue!?” He lifts up his shirt to see his entire torso entirely blue. “Ned!? What’s happening to me!?” He looks up at buffalo for answers. The bobcat can’t help him as he has no idea why the eagle changed colors all of the sudden. Then, the second stage happens. Xavier’s belly grumbles and the poor guy moans in sickness, gripping onto his belly like something he ate isn’t agreeing with his stomach. “Why do I feel so….full?” It’s as if he ate an entire meal, or maybe two. Looking down at his torso again, he can see why. His belly is sticking out inch by inch, like he’s bloated with something that’s making sloshing sounds, like water. But that’s not all, his sides spill out and his chest swells up along, lifting up his shirt and exposing his blue and rounding belly. “Oh god! I’m blowing up!” This is the time for the eagle to screech in horror. He can feel his back side pushing against his collared shirt and his expanding chest tightening his buttons.
“I told you to spit it out!” Ned said, unsure how to solve this. Xavier whimpers, with his legs spread apart as they get thicker, his arms up on its sides in a t-pose style once they inflate, making them look either really fat or really puffy. “Oh god, this is horrible……” Ned feels terribly guilty about this, like this was his own fault.
Jackson is the most confused out of all of them, like a tag along friend who has no idea why he’s here or what is going on. He turns to Ned with a puzzled and bewildered expression. “Mind telling me why Xavier is blue and blowing up into a hot air balloon!?”
“It’s not air. It’s juice!” Ned had to explain that first. “He’s turning into a blueberry!” Another screech comes from Xavier, only because he felt his butt cheeks bwomp out of nowhere. With his torso getting rounder, the size of a yoga ball, his clothes can’t handle any more pressure. The button on his shorts pops off and almost hits Jackson. The ones on his collar shirt pop more softly and fall right onto the ground in front of his blue talons.
“W-what!?” Xavier cries out in shock. “Why do you have gum that…..GAH…..does that!?” The eagle can barely waddle around, only taking baby steps so he wouldn’t fall down. His legs and arms keep swelling up with his torso slowly consuming them. His talons and gloved hands sink into the juicy limbs, like a force pressing them down. “Help! Help!” He cries out, close to looking like an actual giant-sized blueberry. The sleeves of his shirt tear apart, splitting into a V from the further end all the way to the seams around his disappearing shoulders and armpits.
“It was for Jackson as an April Fools joke but the dummy here got himself arrested before he came to my house! I must have forgotten about it in the truck when I was called to pick him up.” Ned had the entire thing planned out months ago. He’s heard about the gum from a friend who told him that once you start chewing, there’s no going back. He had to get one from a stranger in a factory who was selling them at a cheaper price than the ones online. The stranger even told Ned what it does and to never mistake it for regular gum. And to almost never do it in open spaces or away from civilization. So at this point, Xavier is doomed.
“Wait, you were planning to turn me into…..him!?” Jackson said, offendedly. “Is it because you want me to look fat? All you had to do was ask.” He jokes, though he has been thinking about gaining weight and teasing Ned while he stuffs himself with food. But that’s a story for another time.
Ned huffs in annoyance with Jackson’s jokes and focuses on the major problem. “We need to get him juiced before…..” He didn’t want to finish his sentence. The thought alone was enough for him to get another panic attack.
“He explodes?” Jackson finished it.
“Explode!?” Xavier repeats. “I don’t want to pop! Help me! Deflate me somehow!” He’s at the final stage, with his swelling dying down with all that is visible is his hands, talons, bloated face, and a round body.
“I…..we can’t. We are in the middle of the field and away from civilization and it’ll be too late at this point.” Ned gives up, now hopeless to save the eagle.
“I mean, we can regenerate back. Right? All we have to do is to….well get all the pieces.” Jackson gives out a good point, furries like the three are able to regenerate from bursting. It’s been tested before by tons of people. “Then get him to a hospital to fix him back up again.”
Ned thinks about it, which he had also forgotten too since he’s never been in a situation like that before. “When you put it like that, yeah.” He smiles just a little. “Don’t worry Xavier, you’ll be fine.” He walks up to the blueberry eagle, patting his sloshy belly as the eagle groans in fullness. “All we have to do is wait until you burst.”
Xavier hated the sound of that. He didn’t want to wait for his body to just explode, he didn’t want to pop at all still. “T-there has to be another way! I’m sorry Ned, I shouldn’t have chewed the gum!” He apologizes, yet still chews gum like a madman.
Though it sounded fun for Jackson, he didn’t want to wait around and wait for Xavier to pop. It could at least take an hour or two and there is no telling how he can tell emergency services where they are. They’re in the middle of the field with no house or road on sight. And Ned wouldn’t want to roll Xavier into the back of the truck and drive him there, for two reasons: One, if Xavier is filling up with juice, he’ll be too heavy to lift up. Two, he can just easily bounce around and roll right off into the highway and oncoming traffic. That one is way worse. But as he recalls the helium tank inside the truck, he gets a better idea. “Say….why don’t we make the process quicker and still have a grand finale?” Jackson smirks, going over to the back of the truck, opening it up, and pulling the metallic helium tank out. He places it on the ground, presenting it to the two, both who know what he means as a grand finale.”
“Jackson, wait a minute!” Ned is the first to speak up while Xavier’s heart paces quicker. “You’re not thinking of inflating our friend with this. He’s already big enough.” Ned tries to persuade him to put the tank down.
“Not to me….” Jackson won’t give up on this or would let Ned talk him out. As he drags the tank over to Xavier, who screeches louder and tries wobbling away from the bobcat, he loosens his belt and pulls it out. He grabs one paw onto the eagle’s over-stretched shirt and pulls him forward to Jackson with his talons lifting up off from the ground.
“Don’t do this!” Xavier begs. “Please!” Because he has his mouth wide open, Jackson takes the chance and rushes it, shoving the hose down into his beak and straps Jackson’s belt around the eagle’s upper and lower beak together, tightening it so the hose wouldn’t come out. “MMMFH!” He muffles in agony, screaming as much as he can.
The bobcat happily begins to twist the valve as much as he can. The tank lets out a pressurized hiss and a second after that Xavier’s cheeks blow up with helium. It’s not long until the eagle inflates once more, his body expanding while keeping the same shape as his blueberry form. “Hehehe, this is gonna be fun.” Jackson stands back and enjoys the show, watching his unlucky friend growing bigger and spherical.
Ned hated Jackson’s idea, but at the same time maybe this is the only way to speed up the bursting. He did have work to go to and he wouldn’t want to stay here another hour. So why not make it a couple of minutes? “I hope you know what you’re doing.” Ned says to Jackon.
“Relax, I know what I’m doing.” The bobcat is confident in what he’s doing. All the two can hear is Xavier’s more terrified screams with one feeling terribly guilty and the other chucking softly. “Keep screaming pal, it helps with the immersion.” He mocks.
The eagle’s body is now much bigger than a yoga ball, closer to a weather balloon almost. With how much helium is in his body, he can feel his body getting lighter like he’s losing pounds or gravity is limiting around him. Then, his talons can’t touch the ground a second time. Not because he’s tilted, but because he’s floating up. The helium has become strong enough that even with the juice, the helium tank has turned him into a flying balloon. “MMMMFH! MMMMRFH!” His talons, hands, and head keep on sinking deeper into his body, like quicksand at least.
“And there he goes.” Jackson said as he and Ned watched their friend going upwards into the air. The helium tank goes along with the ballooning eagle, swinging softly beneath Xavier’s blimpy body. “At this rate, he’ll be scraps in a minute.”
Ned prays on that, and not the fact that if Xavier doesn't ever pop, he’ll be in space. “God, this feels evil.”
The eagle is about twenty feet in the air, flying much quicker the more helium is inside his body. At the same time, his limit is just not that far off as the creaking begins to get excessive throughout everywhere. Just half of his head is completely gone and his talons and hands are nowhere to be seen from the outside. From down below the two friends get ready to stand back just so the pieces and the helium tank don't hit them. “MMMMMMFFFFH!” His final groan before a loud bang echoes through the field like a bomb being dropped. Blue scraps fly out from all directions in the sky and the juice rains down onto the ground seconds later. The helium tank misses the two friends but the raining blueberry juice soaks the two. Then came a pair of soaked gloves, Xavier’s gloves that he wore.
“Hahahaha! That was awesome!” Jackson heartily laughs, licking the blueberry juice from his fingers. “Mmmmm, tasty.” He picks up a scrap or two and puts it in his pocket. “See? Told you it’s the grand finale. Now let’s clean Xavier up and get him fixed again.”
Ned whimpers, feeling sorry for Xavier for being the victim of this. “Hopefully he’ll forgive us.” Maybe it could be the end of a friendship. As they start to pick up all the scraps, Ned can’t help but to lick the juice off of his fingers too, just to see what it tasted like. He’s never tried blueberry gum before, even if it had effects or not. “It is tasty.” Minutes later, halfway through their cleanup, Ned takes a look at Jackson to ask how many pieces he’s got. But what he sees is pure terror. “Jackson…..your nose is turning blue.”
The bobcat, who stops and freezes still, can’t see his nose pretty well but he says to Ned, “Yours is too……” They look at their bodies, pulling up their shirts and examining their paws and arms. From what they first assumed was the blueberry juice that stained their fur, was actually the first effect of the blueberry transformation. The two are infected. Suddenly, a gurgle comes from their stomachs. “Ned…..I feel full.” The two are doomed.
Three friends are about to get ready to go home after lighting up some fireworks. Unfortunately, an eagle chews some blueberry-flavored gum which changed their plans.
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The darkness had seconds left to cave in the night sky onto the ground, with stars dotted in it’s blackened color and the moon being the sacred light source, only to be outplayed by a stream of colors, from red, blue, white, yellow, and green, as the fireworks being popped and combusted into a rainbow explosion fills the night. Below the sky's the field, which is nothing more than flat grass that’s less than an inch tall and rocks embedded into the ground, that isn't accompanied by a town nor any villages that could ruin the beautiness of the vastness. Except, it already has. Three friends, a white-feathered eagle, a lightly brown-furred bobcat with black spots all over his body, and a dark brown-furred buffalo, are enjoying the time of their life lighting the fireworks they have saved up for the past week. They had to purchase the fireworks early before the crowd would take everything in stock. The county they live in only has two stores that sell fireworks, and at times those stores can be turned upside down like a Black Friday. [KABOOM!] Another firework bursts into the sky, showing off a red and blue glow of sparks flying out from all directions before its shreds of paper fall to the ground and fading away quickly. “I like that one. Those colors represent our country almost perfectly. Just need to add some white.” Jackson, the bobcat says as he adored the firework he lit up. Jackson is wearing dark blue shorts with a belt around his soft waist, sneakers with laces tied loosely, a Hawaiian themed buttoned shirt but with its buttons off just so Jackson can let his chubby furry belly loose and exposed for his buddies. The bobcat is the kind of guy who adventures and experiences new things, now matter the risk. He’s been arrested on charges for speeding about three times and has done community service. That’s because he sees himself as a free spirit who wants to live in a world full of chaos. Jackson looks over at his two friends, the buffalo and the eagle who were getting ready for the other fireworks from the back of the buffalo’s pickup truck.
Though looking at those fireworks, there’s only a scarce of them left. The buffalo chuckles when he reads the title of one of those fireworks. “This one sounds promising. The Dragon’s Wrath.” Ned, the buffalo, loves dragons so this firework will do him perfectly. He opens the box and takes out what looked like a small rocket-shaped firework with a long fiber fuse on the bottom. Ned is a friendly yet sometimes a bully friend. He’ll pick on the bobcat and the eagle by being short compared to the buffalo. And sometimes the eagle hates that while Jackson laughs with him for it. But he does love his friends so he’ll make sure that his jokes aren’t too sensitive and that he isn’t harassing them or making them feel too uncomfortable. He does apologize more to the eagle than the bobcat. Ned wears a white tank top and cargo shorts with no shoes as his hooves are tough enough to walk around, with a muscular form that tells that the buffalo has been hitting the gym several days a week. “Give me the lighter.” He looks over at the eagle who has the lighter next to him.
“Sure, here you go.” Xavier, the eagle, hands Ned the lighter before checking the pile to see what else is left. Xavier is a sensitive and introverted friend. He always hates the outside due to his social anxiety. But with him away from society besides his two close friends, he can consider this night perfect for him. Though he would prefer if it were quieter than this, rather than blowing up fireworks and lighting the night sky up like creating a man-made sun. The only reason he’s here is because his friends asked for him to come and as someone who can trust the bobcat and the buffalo who has given him nothing but friendship and comfort, he was willing enough to come. Xavier wears a red collar shirt, beige shorts just like Ned’s, no shoes since his talons are both sharp and long enough to not fit any, and gloves so whenever he tries to light things, he won’t catch his feathered hands on fire. “Oh, hey Ned and Jackson. Don’t forget to clean up the place. I hate littering.” The eagle tells the two while separating the big fireworks from the poppers, firecrackers, and the smaller fireworks. He still ponders about the helium tank that’s all the way in the back of the bed, like they were gonna use it for something. Ned said that he forgot to put it away before their arrival to the fields but Ned always says that whenever Xavier or Jackson question him about it.
“Yeah, right. Who’s gonna come here?” Jackson scoffs, not giving a care about picking up his own trash. He’s got to get up early in the morning for work and he’s not going to waste that extra time cleaning up scraps of blown up and flamed fireworks if they’re the only ones who know this place.
Xavier crosses his arms and pouts. “It’s not funny, Jackson!” The eagle screeches softly in anger.
This heating argument causes Ned to get involved. “Calm down you two. You can argue more after our fireworks.” Ned tells them before he sets his favorite firework down onto the ground where the burnt remains of the others are, away from both the truck and his friends. The lighter he uses is one of those sparkwheel kinds, with a silvery metal covering and a logo name branded onto the side which reads, [Fire & Steel]. It’s a company who produces and sells camping supplies and construction equipment. A company that Ned works at as a stocker for its shelves and trays. For him it’s a good place to work at as a start, but the buffalo believes he can do better if he can get a degree in college for engineering. Ned flips the sparkwheel until a flame spews out, a rather large one in fact. He bends his knees and downwardly gets close to the fuse connected to the enormous firework. Putting the flame as close as he can to the fuse, engulfing it like the flame was eating the flammable threads. Then suddenly, the sparks light up, running down the rope as it gets closer to the rocket itself. As for Ned, he runs back to his friends so that in case fire starts to spit beneath the Dragon’s Wrath like a rocket ship taking off.
Seconds later the rocket takes off into the sky with success and no misfires. Its bang is just as loud as gunfire going off at close distance or a grenade exploding right in front of their ears. The sky lights up again with colors of red and black spreading outwards. “Awesome!” Jackson said in awe, covering his eyes a bit so the brightness of the exploded and colorful firework doesn’t blind him. So did Xaiver too who hated the sound that he had to shut his eyes and cover his ears completely. Xavier hates loud noises, most likely because it scares him and that it annoys him. “Was that the last big one?” Jackson asks while he turns around to the truck bed. So far there were a couple more left and some small stuff that he’ll leave for Xavier.
“That might be our last one for tonight. We have to get to bed now…..” Ned looks down at his watch that reads almost midnight. “Oh wow, we’ve been here for a couple hours!” They started around eight when the sun began to set down and now they spent almost four hours. “Let’s clean up and go home.” Ned said as he and Xavier went over to the pile of used fireworks and cleaned them all up.
For Jackson he groaned. “Ugh, I hate work!” He complains, looking at the remaining rockets sitting there. “No way we’re just gonna waste these for nothing.”
Ned looks back at the bobcat, picking up some of the colder trash while Xavier takes the hotter ones due to him wearing protective gloves. “We can save them another time. But just to remind you that if me and Xavier leave you here with the rest of the fireworks, you have no car to get back home with.” Ned has a point, with the buffalo and the eagle taking the truck, how will the bobcat go back home? His house is miles away from where they’re at.
“I hate you so much….” Jackson softly growls at him in anger. With no other choice, he unwillingly helps the two pick up all the trash and dump it into the very back of the truck. The eagle yawns and smacks his lips, being the tired one out of the three of them. His tongue felt dry, along with his throat. He hadn’t gotten water since dinner, which was around seven. He needed something to help either hydrate or just to wet up his tongue again.
“Hey Ned, do you have anything to drink? I’m thirsty here.” Xavier asks.
“Check the passenger's seat in the front, in the cup holders. I’m not sure if there is a bottle of water or not.” Dan can’t remember at all so it’s up to the eagle to take a look. Xavier opens the car door from the front passenger’s side and takes a look.
As to his disappointment, there isn’t any water for him to drink. “Dang. Nothing here!” He shouts over Ned to tell him the bad news.
“Sorry, bud.” That’s all the buffalo has to say. He continues his work and the three are halfway done. Xavier pouts and still looks in the truck just in case he missed them. In the cupholder between the seats and in front of the shift stick, there was something inside. It’s a piece of gum, wrapped in foil perfectly with no indication of what brand it is. Still, gum can be useful to help satisfy his tongue and get the juices out of it as some sort of hydration. Grabbing the gum out of the cupholder, the eagle unwraps it to see that the color of the gum is blue. Off the tip of his tongue, he can already assume that the flavor has to be blueberry or blue raspberry. The only way he can find out is if he chews it. So popping it into his mouth, he begins to chew it softly.
Blueberry is the flavor, one that Xavier is savoring. “Mmmmmm, tasty.” He loves blueberries, unlike Jackson who’s a fan of regular cherries and Ned who enjoys strawberries and watermelons more. Smacking the gum around in his beak, he checks up with the other two.
Jackson is worn out by bending down to pick up stuff and walking all the way to the truck to toss it in the bed. “Can we be done now? I’m tired and I didn’t want to clean up this crap!” He keeps complaining like a spoiled child.
“Maybe if you exercised more instead of being fat, you wouldn’t be tired.” Ned insults him, though he is pointing out a fact. Jackson snarls at him and grumbles something to himself. “But I guess it really is a lot to clean up. Not to mention that it’s a waste of time to get the smallest pieces.” Ned sighs, finishing up his load of trash and closing the trunk door tightly. “Let’s get home.”
“Sweet!” Xavier said, still chewing the blueberry gum in his mouth. The taste is addicting, not to mention is helping his mouth get rid of the dryness inside. What’s stranger is the fact that this stick of gum keeps producing more juice for him to swallow, like some sort of illusion that looks small from the outside yet larger. Maybe this gum is like a sponge and he is squeezing out the contents. “I’m ready to go home.” The eagle says, eager to get back home to get a good night's rest.
Jackson didn’t mind the sight of Xavier chewing the gum, in fact he thought that the eagle was lucky enough to get one. As for Ned, he’s more of the opposite. His face shows a sign of worryness and a bit of anxiety. With his eyes widened when he looked at the eagle and his tail drooping to the ground in fear. “Hey bud, where did you get that gum?” He questions, his tone fragile as glass and close enough to panic.
Xavier, chewing the gum more harshly, takes a good notice of Ned's expression. He looks scared, maybe even terrified. “I got it from your truck….in the cupholder.” Again, Ned can feel his heart racing just by hearing that come from the eagle’s beak.
He has one more question to ask him. “W-what flavor is it?”
“Blueberry, why?” This is where things go downhill as Ned almost had a panic attack.
“Oh no…..” He said to himself quietly. “Y-You really need to spit out that gum now, Xavier.” He orders, shaking in his hooves. Xavier wishes he can listen to Ned like he always does, but the taste of the blueberry flavored gum was so good to his taste buds.
“What’s the big deal? It’s just gum.” Jackson doesn’t take it seriously and doesn’t pay attention to Ned's dreadful face. “Was it yours?”
“Please Xavier, you really need to spit it out!” Ned ignores Jackson’s question as he keeps telling the eagle to spit out the gum.
“I can’t, man. It tastes awesome! How bad is one piece of gum?” Just as he said those words, something happens a few seconds later that causes both the bobcat and the buffalo to now feel more worried about their eagle friend. “W-what? What are you two looking at?” The eagle feels upset about the situation that he doesn’t know about.
“Your face dude! It’s blue now!” Jackson is the first to speak, pointing his finger right on Xavier’s blue beak. In fact, his entire head is blue, just like the shade of the gum he’s chewing. It’s like he had a face paint session with each of his feathers colored in blue rather than white with a yellow beak.
Xavier still keeps chewing, even if the stuff he’s hearing from his friends makes him more frightened. “What do you mean my face is blue? I feel fine!”
Ned looks down to see that his feathered arms and legs are blue as well, like he knew that was going to happen. “Oh dear! It’s too late……” He whimpers, stepping back a bit. “I’m so sorry about this.” He deeply apologies to Xavier.
The eagle finally looks at his arms, squawking in shock. “What the! Why am I blue!?” He lifts up his shirt to see his entire torso entirely blue. “Ned!? What’s happening to me!?” He looks up at buffalo for answers. The bobcat can’t help him as he has no idea why the eagle changed colors all of the sudden. Then, the second stage happens. Xavier’s belly grumbles and the poor guy moans in sickness, gripping onto his belly like something he ate isn’t agreeing with his stomach. “Why do I feel so….full?” It’s as if he ate an entire meal, or maybe two. Looking down at his torso again, he can see why. His belly is sticking out inch by inch, like he’s bloated with something that’s making sloshing sounds, like water. But that’s not all, his sides spill out and his chest swells up along, lifting up his shirt and exposing his blue and rounding belly. “Oh god! I’m blowing up!” This is the time for the eagle to screech in horror. He can feel his back side pushing against his collared shirt and his expanding chest tightening his buttons.
“I told you to spit it out!” Ned said, unsure how to solve this. Xavier whimpers, with his legs spread apart as they get thicker, his arms up on its sides in a t-pose style once they inflate, making them look either really fat or really puffy. “Oh god, this is horrible……” Ned feels terribly guilty about this, like this was his own fault.
Jackson is the most confused out of all of them, like a tag along friend who has no idea why he’s here or what is going on. He turns to Ned with a puzzled and bewildered expression. “Mind telling me why Xavier is blue and blowing up into a hot air balloon!?”
“It’s not air. It’s juice!” Ned had to explain that first. “He’s turning into a blueberry!” Another screech comes from Xavier, only because he felt his butt cheeks bwomp out of nowhere. With his torso getting rounder, the size of a yoga ball, his clothes can’t handle any more pressure. The button on his shorts pops off and almost hits Jackson. The ones on his collar shirt pop more softly and fall right onto the ground in front of his blue talons.
“W-what!?” Xavier cries out in shock. “Why do you have gum that…..GAH…..does that!?” The eagle can barely waddle around, only taking baby steps so he wouldn’t fall down. His legs and arms keep swelling up with his torso slowly consuming them. His talons and gloved hands sink into the juicy limbs, like a force pressing them down. “Help! Help!” He cries out, close to looking like an actual giant-sized blueberry. The sleeves of his shirt tear apart, splitting into a V from the further end all the way to the seams around his disappearing shoulders and armpits.
“It was for Jackson as an April Fools joke but the dummy here got himself arrested before he came to my house! I must have forgotten about it in the truck when I was called to pick him up.” Ned had the entire thing planned out months ago. He’s heard about the gum from a friend who told him that once you start chewing, there’s no going back. He had to get one from a stranger in a factory who was selling them at a cheaper price than the ones online. The stranger even told Ned what it does and to never mistake it for regular gum. And to almost never do it in open spaces or away from civilization. So at this point, Xavier is doomed.
“Wait, you were planning to turn me into…..him!?” Jackson said, offendedly. “Is it because you want me to look fat? All you had to do was ask.” He jokes, though he has been thinking about gaining weight and teasing Ned while he stuffs himself with food. But that’s a story for another time.
Ned huffs in annoyance with Jackson’s jokes and focuses on the major problem. “We need to get him juiced before…..” He didn’t want to finish his sentence. The thought alone was enough for him to get another panic attack.
“He explodes?” Jackson finished it.
“Explode!?” Xavier repeats. “I don’t want to pop! Help me! Deflate me somehow!” He’s at the final stage, with his swelling dying down with all that is visible is his hands, talons, bloated face, and a round body.
“I…..we can’t. We are in the middle of the field and away from civilization and it’ll be too late at this point.” Ned gives up, now hopeless to save the eagle.
“I mean, we can regenerate back. Right? All we have to do is to….well get all the pieces.” Jackson gives out a good point, furries like the three are able to regenerate from bursting. It’s been tested before by tons of people. “Then get him to a hospital to fix him back up again.”
Ned thinks about it, which he had also forgotten too since he’s never been in a situation like that before. “When you put it like that, yeah.” He smiles just a little. “Don’t worry Xavier, you’ll be fine.” He walks up to the blueberry eagle, patting his sloshy belly as the eagle groans in fullness. “All we have to do is wait until you burst.”
Xavier hated the sound of that. He didn’t want to wait for his body to just explode, he didn’t want to pop at all still. “T-there has to be another way! I’m sorry Ned, I shouldn’t have chewed the gum!” He apologizes, yet still chews gum like a madman.
Though it sounded fun for Jackson, he didn’t want to wait around and wait for Xavier to pop. It could at least take an hour or two and there is no telling how he can tell emergency services where they are. They’re in the middle of the field with no house or road on sight. And Ned wouldn’t want to roll Xavier into the back of the truck and drive him there, for two reasons: One, if Xavier is filling up with juice, he’ll be too heavy to lift up. Two, he can just easily bounce around and roll right off into the highway and oncoming traffic. That one is way worse. But as he recalls the helium tank inside the truck, he gets a better idea. “Say….why don’t we make the process quicker and still have a grand finale?” Jackson smirks, going over to the back of the truck, opening it up, and pulling the metallic helium tank out. He places it on the ground, presenting it to the two, both who know what he means as a grand finale.”
“Jackson, wait a minute!” Ned is the first to speak up while Xavier’s heart paces quicker. “You’re not thinking of inflating our friend with this. He’s already big enough.” Ned tries to persuade him to put the tank down.
“Not to me….” Jackson won’t give up on this or would let Ned talk him out. As he drags the tank over to Xavier, who screeches louder and tries wobbling away from the bobcat, he loosens his belt and pulls it out. He grabs one paw onto the eagle’s over-stretched shirt and pulls him forward to Jackson with his talons lifting up off from the ground.
“Don’t do this!” Xavier begs. “Please!” Because he has his mouth wide open, Jackson takes the chance and rushes it, shoving the hose down into his beak and straps Jackson’s belt around the eagle’s upper and lower beak together, tightening it so the hose wouldn’t come out. “MMMFH!” He muffles in agony, screaming as much as he can.
The bobcat happily begins to twist the valve as much as he can. The tank lets out a pressurized hiss and a second after that Xavier’s cheeks blow up with helium. It’s not long until the eagle inflates once more, his body expanding while keeping the same shape as his blueberry form. “Hehehe, this is gonna be fun.” Jackson stands back and enjoys the show, watching his unlucky friend growing bigger and spherical.
Ned hated Jackson’s idea, but at the same time maybe this is the only way to speed up the bursting. He did have work to go to and he wouldn’t want to stay here another hour. So why not make it a couple of minutes? “I hope you know what you’re doing.” Ned says to Jackon.
“Relax, I know what I’m doing.” The bobcat is confident in what he’s doing. All the two can hear is Xavier’s more terrified screams with one feeling terribly guilty and the other chucking softly. “Keep screaming pal, it helps with the immersion.” He mocks.
The eagle’s body is now much bigger than a yoga ball, closer to a weather balloon almost. With how much helium is in his body, he can feel his body getting lighter like he’s losing pounds or gravity is limiting around him. Then, his talons can’t touch the ground a second time. Not because he’s tilted, but because he’s floating up. The helium has become strong enough that even with the juice, the helium tank has turned him into a flying balloon. “MMMMFH! MMMMRFH!” His talons, hands, and head keep on sinking deeper into his body, like quicksand at least.
“And there he goes.” Jackson said as he and Ned watched their friend going upwards into the air. The helium tank goes along with the ballooning eagle, swinging softly beneath Xavier’s blimpy body. “At this rate, he’ll be scraps in a minute.”
Ned prays on that, and not the fact that if Xavier doesn't ever pop, he’ll be in space. “God, this feels evil.”
The eagle is about twenty feet in the air, flying much quicker the more helium is inside his body. At the same time, his limit is just not that far off as the creaking begins to get excessive throughout everywhere. Just half of his head is completely gone and his talons and hands are nowhere to be seen from the outside. From down below the two friends get ready to stand back just so the pieces and the helium tank don't hit them. “MMMMMMFFFFH!” His final groan before a loud bang echoes through the field like a bomb being dropped. Blue scraps fly out from all directions in the sky and the juice rains down onto the ground seconds later. The helium tank misses the two friends but the raining blueberry juice soaks the two. Then came a pair of soaked gloves, Xavier’s gloves that he wore.
“Hahahaha! That was awesome!” Jackson heartily laughs, licking the blueberry juice from his fingers. “Mmmmm, tasty.” He picks up a scrap or two and puts it in his pocket. “See? Told you it’s the grand finale. Now let’s clean Xavier up and get him fixed again.”
Ned whimpers, feeling sorry for Xavier for being the victim of this. “Hopefully he’ll forgive us.” Maybe it could be the end of a friendship. As they start to pick up all the scraps, Ned can’t help but to lick the juice off of his fingers too, just to see what it tasted like. He’s never tried blueberry gum before, even if it had effects or not. “It is tasty.” Minutes later, halfway through their cleanup, Ned takes a look at Jackson to ask how many pieces he’s got. But what he sees is pure terror. “Jackson…..your nose is turning blue.”
The bobcat, who stops and freezes still, can’t see his nose pretty well but he says to Ned, “Yours is too……” They look at their bodies, pulling up their shirts and examining their paws and arms. From what they first assumed was the blueberry juice that stained their fur, was actually the first effect of the blueberry transformation. The two are infected. Suddenly, a gurgle comes from their stomachs. “Ned…..I feel full.” The two are doomed.
Category Story / Inflation
Species Eagle
Gender Male
Size 120 x 112px
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