I wrote a romantic inflation story! No, really. I'm rather proud of it, actually. It's also quite clean, in case you were wondering; just cute, lovey-dovey inflation stuff.

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Poképuffs

My jaw dropped at the slime-stained paper before me. Hours of studying every night had yielded a C on my latest Calculus test, which meant… this Goodra would not remain at Dialga University for long. The school, while not the toughest, had a strict quota that students who failed all their core classes after a semester would be expelled. I honestly did my best all year but… I guess that did not meet their standards. Calculus was my last hope. “No… no, there must be some mistake!” I cried in desperation. “I studied for hours! I… I deserve to be stay!”

“That’s just the way it is,” my Mightyena teacher grunted in sympathy. “Sorry, son. Maybe next year.”


“You’re expelled?! That’s terrible!” Grace cried, nearly spilling her hot chocolate in surprise. Short green hair fell between two tufted ears, swaying to reveal the Shaymin’s distraught yet beautiful emerald eyes. I don’t know why a legendary like her would ever attend a college this “lowly”- let alone date a Goodra like me- but, Arceus, was she the prettiest Pokémon I’ve ever met. Apparently this school had one of the most prodigious biochemistry programs in the country that was right up her alley, so her parents gave her a full ride here. Smart, beautiful, kind, rich… I don’t know how on Earth I got to deserve her.

I put a slick, purple hand to my draconic head, running it over my soft, curled horns as I sighed. “I know. I called my parents; they’ll let me move back in once my two weeks’ notice is up. Suddenly Grace wrapped her arms around me in a troubled yet loving embrace. Even though the slime that coated my body dripped on to her soft white fur, she had long since learned to tolerate if not enjoy it. After all, she only got slimed when we were close… and being close made both of us happy.

As Grace pulled away from our embrace, she whimpered, “I’m sorry, Draymon… I just wish there was something more I could do.”

I stroked her back in some feeble attempt to comfort her. “You already spent so much of your free time tutoring me. I couldn’t possibly ask for a more loving girlfriend.”

Even as she giggled at the compliment, she sighed. “I don’t want you to go! You live so far away!” It was true. My parents lived a couple hours from the university, not counting potential traffic. “Can’t you just move in with me?” she begged.

I accepted my own hot chocolate along with a few Poképuffs from the waitress, a pretty Liepard who nevertheless simply couldn’t compare to Grace’s radiant beauty. “That wouldn’t be fair to you, though,” I protested, taking a bite of a chocolate puff. I loved chocolate Poképuffs. Swallowing, I elaborated, “I can’t get a job here no matter how hard I try, so my expenses would all be out of your pocket and I can’t accept that.”

She huffed. “I wished my parents liked you more. Seriously, why do they care if I don’t marry a Victini or another Shaymin… then they’d ‘find it in their hearts’ to pay for you, too. But no, it’s all about social standing with them!” She crushed one of her own pastries in her fingers out of anger.

“Honestly, Grace, it’s fine! We can just talk over LatiChat or something. Just because we’ll be far away doesn’t mean our relationship has to end, you know.” I wrapped my soft, heavy tail around her, drawing us closer together on the padded bench.

She grunted. “No. There has to be a way you can stay! I’ll think of something, I’m sure of it!”

I smiled. “You’re a pretty little genius, that’s for sure. I believe in you.” The truth was I had no hope for a way for me to stay. But with how this day was going, I didn’t want to make her feel any worse.

“Thanks, Draymon,” she said with a hint of a smile. I could see her eyes darting back and forth, a clear sign that gears were turning in that beautiful, flowery head of hers. I finished my last Poképuff and downed the dregs of my hot chocolate before giving her a light kiss on her furry cheek.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? I have to get packing, and I know you have a project to start working on.”

“Right. Okay,” she nodded. Giving me a kiss back, she grinned. “Just you wait, Draymon! I’ll think of something…”



The following weeks passed by in kind of a haze. Without classes to attend, I didn’t do much but pack up my stuff and play my video games. While my Samurott roommate voiced his sympathy, he and I both knew there was nothing he could do. There was an upside to all of it: without conflicting schedules, Grace and I had a lot more time to spend together. We watched movies, played games- she’s wicked at Mario Kart- and frequented the local Heatmor’s for hot chocolate. Winter’s kind of tough on us Dragon- and Grass-types, you see, and hot chocolate with a few Poképuffs is a cold Goodra’s dream come true.

Oh, yeah- we also both had a thing for inflatables. Her apartment always had more than a few party balloons inflated and lying around on the floor or ceiling, not to mention her collection of pool toys: cute, inflatable versions of the many species of feral Pokémon that inhabited the wilds. We loved to blow them up together and sometimes even act out silly romances for the toys, which often ended in us tucking away the “newlyweds” in Grace’s bedroom to enjoy their honeymoon privately.

One day as we blew up her Shiny Ninetales toy, I stroked its still-crumpled back as it filled with air. “You know, in a way, I envy him,” I commented.

“Envy who? Little Sai here?” she giggled, patting the eponymous toy as the last of its wrinkles filled out. She shut off the air, leaving us on either side of a proudly sitting inflatable Ninetales that stood almost five feet high.

“Yeah, him. Toys don’t have to worry about Calculus or college or moving back to their parents’ house. All they have to keep in mind is look pretty and stay puffy.” I frowned, looking away to stroke one of the toy’s taut, puffy tails.

Grace reached over Sai’s back to pat my soft, gooey shoulder. “That’s actually a really cute thought, Draymon.” As I looked back to her in confusion, she explained with a growing smile, “If you were one of my inflatables, I’d take extra good care of you: pumping you up to a taut yet safe size and keeping my apartment extra clean of anything sharp. I’d patch up any leaks you might have and I’d hug you and play with you every day!”

I looked away again, but this time I had a blushing smile. “Aww, thanks, Grace. That means a lot to me.”

My girlfriend lifted Sai to place his paws on my shoulders as she spoke in a silly, high-pitched voice, “Yeah, Draymon! We’d be the best of friends and play together all the time! We can even be closet-mates when Miss Gracie puts us away!”

I chuckled, lightly pushing the toy away as I responded, “Yeah, but wouldn’t you rather do all that with Seraph?”

Grace kept up the act. “Seraph? Who’s she?” she made Sai ask in that appropriately squeaky voice. “Is she pretty?”

“Oh, she’s a real charmer, for sure,” I smiled, grabbing Grace’s compressor. “Come on, Sai! I’ll introduce you!”

As Sai and Seraph began what by all indications will be a long and happy relationship, I could not help but notice Grace seemed somewhat distracted. “Is something wrong, Grace?” I finally asked as we set up a toy-friendly dinner for the “couple”, which meant no sharp utensils like forks or knives.

“Nothing, Draymon,” she responded, still using Seraph’s voice. She cleared her throat and repeated in her regular dulcet tone, “I mean, it’s nothing.”

“Are you sure?” I pressed. “You know you can tell me anything.”

“I know, I know…”

“Are you worried about the project?”

“As a matter of fact, I just… never mind. It’s nothing.”

“Please, Grace, tell me what’s wrong!”

“Draymon, I’m going to need you to trust me on this, okay?” she asked with a sudden intensity. “It’s really nothing to worry about, but if it does end up being important I promise I’ll let you know, okay?”

I struggled within myself. On one hand, there was no way I’d let her struggle alone… but on the other, I really did trust her. “Okay. I’ll trust you. But please, please let me help you however I can!”

“I promise, Draymon. I’ll let you know the moment I need you. But for now, I think these two lovebirds are getting hungry, don’t you?”



I had to go the next day. I cried softly into her shoulder in a secluded corner of the Heatmor’s we visited together one last time. Despite my attempts to stay calm and collected for her as well as myself, the realization that I wouldn’t see my beautiful Shaymin face-to-face for months struck me seemingly all at once and I broke down. “I’ll miss you,” I whimpered, “I’ll miss you so much…” Rarely a day had gone by in the last three semesters without us meeting up in some way… I just didn’t know if I could adjust to being so far away from her. With a hint of spite I wondered if her parents were happy.

She stroked my slick, smooth back comfortingly. “I know, Draymon, I know. I’ll miss you, too.” I blinked away my tears for a moment to see her emerald eyes were red and puffy as well. This was hard on both of us. “I was so close, too,” she whispered.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, nothing. Hey look, our food’s here!”

The Liepard waitress came by and delivered our regular order of hot chocolate and Poképuffs without a word. Grace gave a half-hearted smile and held out a pastry. “Come on, Draymon. It’s chocolate- your favorite!” I reluctantly took the pastry, trying to enjoy the frosted, chocolaty delight through my veil of misery. As I swallowed a bite, I looked to my girlfriend to see she had adopted a shocked expression, her eyes darting this way and that.

“Grace?” I questioned. “Is everything all right?”

She snapped out of her daze to respond, “What? Yes, everything’s fine! See, um… actually, never mind. But… just in case, can you promise me to come by my apartment tomorrow, one last time?”

“Of course! I’d never turn down an offer like that!”

“Thank you, Draymon. Wait, no! It’s not… that…” she winced.

My grin was replaced by an embarrassed blushed as I looked away. “Sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking…”

I was surprised to merit a kiss on the cheek. “But once we tie the knot, you know?”

“I’ll eagerly await the day.” Such thoughts helped take the edge off of what was to come tomorrow.

“Me, too.” She shook her head. “Um, yeah, could you stop by around eleven A.M. tomorrow?”

“I couldn’t bear to be a minute later.” I nuzzled up against her and together we sat, Goodra and Shaymin, enjoying our last meal together.

Suddenly Grace gasped and smiled at me. “It’s sunset. Can I have a Forme Change Kiss?”

“But of course!” I closed my eyes, gently pressing my muzzle against hers as the sun fell behind the horizon. I felt her hair grow quickly under my arms and her muzzle change shape against mine. Once we finally broke the kiss, I took a good long look at the Land Forme she adopted each night. Her ears retracted to rounded nubs poking out of her huge mane, a mess of grass-colored hair that fell to her ankles. She looked at me shyly with a cute, little muzzle. I smiled. “It’s hard to tell which of your Formes is more gorgeous. In both cases I’m blinded by your beauty.”

“Aww… but you say that almost every time I change!”

I wrapped her in a somewhat gooey hug. “It doesn’t make it any less true. I love you, Grace.”

“I love you, too.”



I loaded the last of my stuff into my car, most of it blessedly fitting into only three suitcases, and started the engine. Grace’s request to visit her was still on my mind- how could I forget? Maybe she’d finally tell me what the matter was. Luckily she lived only five minutes away, so in no time I was knocking on her apartment door. A very tired Sky Forme Shaymin with a coffee opened the door that immediately brightened upon recognizing me. She gasped. “Draymon! Come in, come in! I have something to show you!”

“Something to show me?” I repeated, stepping inside. Her large, lavishly decorated apartment appeared somewhat empty until I realized she had simply pushed aside all of her furniture. “What’s going on in here?”

“I came up with a biochem project last week after we played with my toys. Was it possible to inflate real Pokémon like balloons? It would have quite a number of implications, like as a way to keep inmates contained or as an emergency procedure for airplanes or ships at sea. Moreover, while inflated one can survive entirely off of air for very long periods of time, revolutionizing the fight against hunger. I’ll spare you the details -it’s really complicated- but suffice to say I came up with a chemical mix that could do just that, making the skin elastic and temporarily vaporizing everything but the skin. The problem was, it had to be injected intravenously and it was really hard to keep stable for long. Even if I managed to inflate myself in my tests, I would just turn back to normal once the chemicals broke down.” Something about the thought of Grace being inflated made me blush.

Grace smiled and continued, “But then last night when we were enjoying ourselves, it hit me: chocolate. Again, it’s complicated, but adding a couple compounds from cocoa beans makes the compound last almost indefinitely.” She winced. “As in… the consumer of the mixture becomes a living balloon forever.” I had a sneaking suspicion of what she came up with…

My suspicions were confirmed as she opened her fridge and took out a chocolate Poképuff on a plate, looking at it with a faraway glance. “I stayed up all night preparing this at the school lab. I really could have made it into anything or just made it a nasty drink, but come on! A Poképuff? It was too perfect!” she chuckled.

Returning to her “scholar mode”, she explained, “I’ve done all the calculations time and time again- if you eat this, you’ll inflate just like a giant balloon.” Looking back to me, she added. “This is how we can stay together! If you become my big inflatable Goodra, you won’t cost me a penny to live with me!” She set the chemical-laced pastry on the counter before using a gentle hand to stroke my cheek. “I’ll pamper you and play with you and be a good owner and girlfriend. All you have to keep in mind is look pretty and stay puffy, just like Sai,” she quoted me with a smile.

I glanced at her offer sitting innocently beside us. “No, I can’t accept this. I don’t want to make you take care of me for the rest of my life; if anything, I should take care of you! You eat it. I’ll be good to you.”

Grace shook her head emphatically. “I’m set for life. My parents are rich and I have a promising future in biochemistry, especially with these new compounds. I love you, but let’s be honest: you weren’t going anywhere soon.”

I rubbed the back of neck with an embarrassed grin. “I guess… I mean, are you sure? What if this relationship doesn’t pan out?”

She got angry- a rare sight. “We’ve been together for almost eighteen months now and you think I’m just going to abandon you?! I’ve studied biology and psychology; I know all the mechanics of love and how successful couples interact and Draymon, we will stay together. Do you understand?”

I put up my slimed hands to calm her. “Okay, okay. I get it. I believe you.” I glanced back at the Poképuff. It was a really tempting offer, living my life a taut, round balloon… but could I do this to her? “Are you sure you want to have to take care of me? I’d be like kind of like a pet that you can’t do much with but watch and take care of. I’d be a big responsibility.”

“You just don’t get it, do you? I almost never have to feed you- you can live off of a Poképuff a week easily- and you’re so much cuter and more fun and friendly than any pet!” She took the plate and offered it directly to me. “Please, be my big, puffy Goodra. I swear on my life I’ll make you the happiest Pokémon in the world.”

I thought it over one last time, but her argument was solid. It really was what we both wanted. I took the pastry. Raising it to my mouth, I promised, “And I swear on my life I’ll make you even happier,” and quickly scarfed it down.

Almost immediately I felt the compounds fizzing inside of me, gas bubbles swelling and bursting as my belly pushed outward. With a shiver, I felt my body… shift, in a way.

“Oh, you felt the change? That was your body readjusting to metabolize compounds in the air rather than food,” Grace explained. I nodded. “Now it’ll vaporize your insides to help get you big and puffy.”

That thought made me almost retch up the precious Poképuff. “It’ll what? That’s disgusting! I don’t want to be filled with Goodra gas!”

“What? Oh, no, it breaks it down into very simple components like carbon dioxide and diatomic nitrogen. Aside from a little bit of sulfur you’ll be filled with nothing but regular air. And, well, either way it’s going to happen; no point complaining, right?”

A little shakily, I nodded. Grace smiled and took to rubbing my slowly expanding body, which wasn’t just limited to my belly- even my tail and limbs filled out somewhat. Suddenly Grace gasped. “Uh oh!” she said, quickly knocking me over to fall on my soft tummy. “I need to get you to your room while you still fit!” My room? I thought. She proceeded to roll me across the carpet and into the doorway… but I was just barely too big and still expanding.

“Just squeeze me through,” I insisted. “I’ll be fine.” My girlfriend nodded, getting down low to push me through the door. With a squeak, I found myself inside a mostly empty room while the fizzing inside of me reached a fever pitch. Along one side was a decently sized TV and bookcase, and on the other was the most lavish bed I had ever seen. The rounded bed was dyed a deep blue, and the heavy, soft quilt draped onto the carpet at least three feet in all directions. Sky blue curtains adorned the ceiling surrounding the bed in such a way that I or Grace could open or close them to give me- or us- privacy.

“What do you think? I had it custom built for you last week as I worked on the formula. It’s even goo-repellent! I was just that certain this would work out,” she giggled as I started to round out.

“It’s wonderful… how did you afford this? I know your parents give you an allowance, but—”

“I kinda blew all my savings on this project and you. It’s okay; I wasn’t planning on buying anything big anyway.”

I half-gasped half-laughed at yet another example of her incredible generosity. “I… I don’t deserve this! I don’t deserve you, or this formula, or this bed. I’m… I’m just your run-of-the-mill Goodra… why?”

She kissed my rounded belly. “Because I love you. Do you need another reason? Come on, let’s get you into bed.” To my surprise, she easily lifted me as if I was just another one of her toys and gently placed me on the plush quilt tucked between a few throw pillows. “Are you comfy?”

“Yes, thank you,” I replied, beaming. The fizzing had finally died down- my life as a Goodra balloon had begun. “But… how did you lift me so easily?”

“Oh, yeah, see… a significant molar proportion of your current gaseous composition is diatomic hydrogen which greatly offsets your weight.”

“Um… what?”

I earned another kiss on the cheek and a gentle belly rub. “You’re lighter than air, sweetie.”

I chuckled. “Oh, okay! Whatever you say, my pretty little genius.” Looking over myself, my limbs, head and my inflated tail all stuck out of my rounded, six foot wide ball of a torso. I rubbed what part of me I could reach to find I was pleasantly taut and rounded; my normally pudgy body had stiffened under the pressure of the gas within me... which led me to another question. “Hey, um, how do I deflate? And… what happens if I deflate completely?”

“Try burping,” she suggested. I complied, soon finding myself unable to stop belching massive quantities of the air inside of me. Eventually I managed to close my purple muzzle after having deflated to only five feet wide. Grace took note of my disappointed frown and walked around near the head of the bed, flipping open what appeared to be a nightstand or armrest to reveal an air hose. “If you ever want to blow up any more, you can use this compressor I had installed into the bed. There’s a dial for pressure and an easy on/off switch. But if you do deflate completely, you’ll more or less enter a hibernation state where you stay asleep until someone inflates you again.” Hugging my round belly, she added, “But I’ll keep you nice and puffy for as long as you want.”

“I appreciate that, Grace,” I responded, enjoying the feeling of air shifting around inside of me. Her affectionate arms seemed to squeeze me in two now that I wasn’t as taut as before… and I loved it. “But… I would like to blow up again. You know, just back to how I was before I burped out some?” Grace hummed her agreement, placing the hose in my muzzle and turning on the compressor. It began as a slow trickle of air, but quickly accelerated when my Shaymin girlfriend turned the dial. It was a surprisingly relaxing and passive process- unlike all the other times I tried (and failed) to inflate myself, my body did not resist and instead seemed to welcome the massive volumes of air being blown into me. I think Grace stopped a little later than I asked because I felt tauter than before… but that was okay. It was a euphoric experience.

“Is my big-bellied Goodra comfy?” Grace asked. “Let’s get you tucked into bed.”

I laughed. “It’s like noon, Grace. I’m not sleepy.”

She giggled in response. “Well, where else are you going to go? Now that you’re all big and round, you can’t exactly move on your own.” Yawning, she suggested, “I’m really tired myself, actually, and I’d love to take a short nap…” she looked to me hopefully.

Luckily my left arm was close enough to the quilt to pat it in invitation. “Come on, Grace. Cuddle with your Goodra balloon.”

Her little tail wagging, she quickly flicked off the light and jumped on the bed, pulling a string loop to close the curtains surrounding us and lifting the quilt over her head, throwing it to cover both her and myself in its soft embrace. Inside the tent my belly and the quilt combined to create, I could feel my girlfriend snuggling up against me. Within moments she was snoring lightly, a soft, endearing sound that I couldn’t get enough of. While it took me a little longer, her warmth and my blissfully tight belly soon lulled me to sleep as well.

While my eyes blinked shut, I thought back to just these last couple months when I had no idea where to go or what to do, steadily losing hope for the future… but thanks to the generosity of a friend, I was set for life. All because of a chocolate Poképuff.