Deciding the Biggest

Spark and Bucksi sat across from one another in Bucksi's spacious living room, the two friends having decided to hold a little competition between one another. They each had an electric air pump with them that had a hose snaking from its valve along with a small remote in one hand. For a long time now, the pooltoy gator and the blubbery deer had been good friends, though they were also rivals when it came to their size. Today, they decided to answer a certain question once and for all: Who could inflate to a bigger size without popping or chickening out?

On one side of the room was Spark, the aforementioned pooltoy gator. He had many of the classic features of a gator painted onto his rubber exterior, with green "scales" covering him everywhere save for his belly, chest, chin, and the underside of his tail. He wore a red vest that, while not rubber, looked just as puffy as the rest of him. He had a valve in the middle of his belly, currently occupied by the business end of the hose connected to his air pump.

Bucksi sat near the opposite wall, his pump resting on one of his giant, pudgy thighs. It could easily be said that Bucksi was more fat than deer with his huge stomach, thighs, and very chubby cheeks. He had one red antler and one blue antler, along with a tuft of white fur between his small ears. He was the one to originally propose this competition, and he was more than determined to win.

The rules to the competition were simple: start inflating at the same time and whoever went longer without popping or shutting off the air flow would be declared the winner. Both Bucksi and Spark had a small remote in one hand with a single button on it, set up to immediately stop the incoming flow of air as soon as they pressed it. All the furniture in the room had been moved elsewhere to prevent any premature bursting, and Spark had thoroughly checked the floor for any smaller sharp objects.

Spark was brimming with excitement, and it showed in his voice. "Well, Bucksi, I think we're ready to start! Time for me to prove I'm the bigger balloon here!"

Bucksi chuckled, his fat jiggling a bit. "If ya say so, tiny! I'm sure you'll go boom long before I'm anywhere near my biggest!"

After a little more banter between the two, it was finally time to begin. Bucksi put the open end of his hose in his mouth, swallowing some of its length until some of it was in his stomach. Without further ado they did a short countdown, and at the same time they turned on their air pumps. The whirring of the pumps filled the room shortly before Spark and Bucksi felt the familiar, cold rush of air entering their guts.

Spark's expansion was apparent immediately, as he didn't have a ton of fat already making him appear round at first. His middle bloated outwards in all directions as he slowly grew, his hollow form allowing his expansion to not be contained entirely within his stomach. He grew in height as well as width, his limbs, head, and tail growing proportionally to an extent as his rubber hide handled the constant intake of air. Despite the noise and the slight tight feeling in himself, though, he felt confident in his abilities to outgrow his fat friend.

Bucksi, meanwhile, took a few moments for his growth to show as his belly slowly started to push even further outwards from where it already was. The folds and rolls in his fat began to smooth out across his middle as it resembled a large, growing orb attached to his blubbery body. He pat his stomach a few times, watching it jiggle around in front of him with each impact from his hoof, and smirked; he had this in the bag and he believed it.

The two continued to grow in sync, Bucksi's belly beginning to dwarf himself since he didn't grow in height like Spark. Spark, meanwhile, had grown much bigger, at least a few feet taller now. They eyed each other from across the room, each believing they'd win just as much as the other, and while Bucksi couldn't exactly speak with the hose in his mouth their gazes said more than words could in friendly banter.

Eventually, Bucksi's belly had expanded to such a point that he couldn't see Spark past his own middle. At that point he decided to simply lean back against the wall behind him and relax, enjoying the wonderful feeling of his stretching hide. His arms and legs slowly starfished, sticking straight out as the incoming air started to fill into them instead of his belly. He almost dropped the remote in his hand, barely remembering to hold onto it as he nearly fell into a pressure daze. Besides, there was very little point of winning if he couldn't enjoy being a balloon for a while afterwards.

Spark had grown mostly immobile during this time, his arms and legs sticking straight out and having become impossible to move to nearly any degree. His tail, too, was rigid with air as it stood straight behind him. His middle had done plenty of rounding out, sticking a few feet in front of him while his limbs slowly fattened up and became domes on his ballooning body. It was getting harder to hold his remote in his hand at this point as air pushed into his fingers and palms, making it hard to keep them clenched around the remote itself. It wasn't long before it went clattering to the ground next to Spark, bouncing off of his round thigh and sliding across the floor to land a few feet away. He didn't care all too much, though, having intended on inflating himself to the point of popping regardless of whether or not he won; it was part of the fun, after all! With his puffed up, blushing cheeks and his creaking hide he could only wait until something gave.

Bucksi's hide started to let out a few noises here and there, nearing its limit as the air pump continued to fill him like the machine it was. Both Bucksi and Spark were getting a bit nervous now as they didn't hear any signs of giving up from their opponent wondering if this would really go to the point of po-

A sudden BANG sounded throughout the room as Spark's rubber hide gave way, the gator popping in an instant and the rubber shreds scattering throughout the room before fluttering to the ground. Bucksi was dazed for a moment before he remembered to press the button on his remote, his nearly spherical body just barely managing to hold itself together and declare Bucksi the winner of this little competition. That fact didn't fully process for Bucksi, though, as he sat there in a very intense pressure daze that took up all of his thoughts for the time being. Maybe later he'd realize what happened and really celebrate his triumph, but for now the big deerloon just lay there as the occasional creak or groan sounded from his vastly overstretched hide.