This is the first (and last) time I ever write about 3rd party characters I'm not familiar with haha.

A suuuuuper belated trade for the amazingly patient  WolfgoneWide who finished his half of our trade 3 months ago just to give you some comparison!

At 6700 words this isn't my longest story to date, but it's definitely one of the ones I've worked the hardest with. On top of describing a body shape I wasn't used to (pear shape) I also had to do a lot of research to make sure I was portraying these characters accurately. As such, I'd like to think that both my greatest strengths and weaknesses as a writer probably shine the best in this story, so if anyone wants to point out any areas I need to improve on I'd really appreciate it!

I hope you all enjoy it!

(Also I recommend reading it on the PDF file, easier readability due to font changing and what not)

---

“C’mon, guys. Can’t we stop by a donut shop or something? I’m starving!”

The midnight blue van rattled as it drove down the dusty path, its noise almost drowning out the sound of its passenger’s stomach. From the driver’s seat, a nearsighted turtle sighed for the umpteenth time. “For Pete’s sake, Murray, don’t make me say it again. I don’t want to see you ruin your diet before it's even started!”

“I won’t get anything big, I promise!” Murray whined again, fiddling with his tight shirt. “Just a dozen or two donuts is all I need, then I’ll be set!”

The bubblegum-pink hippo blushed an even darker shade of pink as he heard a soft cackle from the passenger seat of the van. “Heh, well that is just a small snack for him, after all. Know any bakeries nearby, Bentley?”

With yet another exasperated sigh, the turtle adjusted his glasses and turned to face the sarcastic raccoon. “Of course not! We’re in the middle of a giant jungle looking for a temple that hasn’t been seen in centuries! If there were a bakery nearby, then I’d say we pack up our bags and go home, considering the only way they could finance their business would be with the treasure we’re looking for!” Bentley paused for breath, as the van went over a particularly large bump, before sticking up a finger and continuing. “And another thing-”

“Alright, alright, we get it.” Sly held up his paws in defeat, although his signature smug grin never left his muzzle. “It was just a joke, although you really should promise something to poor Murray after this. The poor guy’s starving himself for you back there.”

“I’ll pay for gas if you really want me to, but between you and me,” Bentley lowered his voice as he leaned towards the raccoon, his eyes still focused on the road. “This might not be the best heist for someone like Murray.”

Sly frowned and looked back in case their hippo companion was listening, but seeing that Murray was too busy drawing pictures of hotdogs and pizzas on the van’s walls, decided it was safe to continue talking. “What do you mean? He’s saved my bacon more times than I can count. There’s no one else I’d want more by my side.”

“Yes, I understand that, Sly, but this temple in particular would be a bit problematic to someone with his… weaknesses.”

“Weaknesses?” The raccoon scoffed. “Last I checked, Murray was anything but weak, man. He can throw boulders like they’re pebbles! He has no weakness, unless you’d maybe count his stom-”

“We’re here!” Bentley and Sly nearly jumped out of their clothes as Murray reared his large head into the front of the car, pointing at the temple as it drew near. Sure enough, the ancient building was less than a mile away, only now revealing its grand architecture as if it were hidden by magic. Despite the temple’s age, the limestone continued to shine quite brilliantly, a bright golden gleam instead of the typical grey one would associate with an ancient temple. As they drew closer, Sly could make out the entrance to the temple: a cave-like opening in the shape of a bear’s open maw, complete with stalactites for teeth. While the head was quite large, much bigger than their van in fact, if the rest of the temple was supposed to represent the bear’s body, then that would make for an incredibly wide and obese ursine.

“Hmmf, fancy magical disguises are no match for my superior intellect! I knew we’d find this place sooner or later,” Bentley grinned proudly, quickly tucking away his Google Maps display in his pocket, making sure to silence it right before it announced that they had reached their destination.

Sly chuckled and patted the turtle’s back, pretending he hadn’t noticed . “Good job, Bentley! I knew there wasn’t anything that brain of yours couldn’t crack. Alright,gang, let’s get to work!” Slinging open the door, Sly gracefully leapt out of the van, followed by a not-so-graceful thud from the hippo behind him.

Bentley clutched the steering wheel tightly, waiting for the van to stop lurching from Murray’s weighty exit. “R-right then. I’m gonna go drive around and see if this place has handicapped parking. You two go have fun.” He paused before adding, “And, uh, make sure to cover each other’s weaknesses,” the turtle added, flashing a glance at Sly.

“Roger that!” Sly saluted, watching as Bentley sped off with the van at a much faster speed than what you’d expect from such a cautious turtle. Patting the bulky hippo’s back, the raccoon turned to face the gaping bear’s maw. “Ready to venture into the belly of the beast, bud?”

“Uhh, you bet!” Murray responded with his own special salute, standing firm and tall even as his stomach continued to jiggle about. “I’m so ready, I brought an extra belt, just in case mine breaks again!” the hippo declared proudly as he held up the extra belt.

“Hah, that’s what I like to hear!” Sly beamed back as the two thieves slowly made their way into the maw.

As they made their way deeper into the passage, Sly felt the air around him grow cold, causing him to shiver as if he had just walked into a refrigerator. The lush foliage they had grown accustomed to slowly disappeared as the walls of the cave smoothed out, turning into flat walls with peculiar symbols etched into them. It felt as if they had stepped into an another dimension altogether, even with the lively jungle sounds echoing behind them. Aside from that, however, there were hardly any sounds, save for the hippo’s murmuring. “Um, what do you think Bentley meant by covering each other’s weaknesses?”

Sly turned to his friend and smirked. “He’s just reminding us what we’re best at, ya know? You’re the brawn, and I’m the looks, the rogue, the raccoon, the dapper bandit, etcetera,” the raccoon grinned confidently. Truth be told, he had no idea why the turtle would give such an odd piece of advice before their heist, or what it even meant, but he assumed that he would figure out what Bentley meant soon enough. Little did he realize just how soon that would be.

The walls began to curve outwards, and soon the thieves found themselves standing in a large domed room. Light filtered through the numerous vents near the ceiling, lighting up the surprisingly sparse room. There was hardly anything around them, save for the locked door at the other end of the room, as well as a large stone tile that jutted out from the ground in the middle of the room.

“Hmmph, this is child’s play,” Sly snorted as he strode towards the tile, effortlessly hopping onto it. “We don’t need Bentley here to know that we need to weigh down this pressure plate to open that door. C’mere, Murray, I’m not heavy enough.”

The large hippo shuffled onto the tile, and with their combined weight they managed to sink it into the ground by nearly half a foot; however, it still managed to jut out a few inches from being fully sunken in. The ringtail scowled and rubbed his chin. “No dice, still need a bit more weight. Maybe if we were to go back outside...”

“Um… Sly?”

“...and roll some rocks and boulders in...”

“Sly? Buddy?”

“...but that could take hours, and who knows how difficult it’s gonna be dealing with any future traps? Wasting that much stamina right away would-”

“SLY!”

The raccoon sighed and turned towards his friend. “Look, I can’t solve this puzzle here if you’re going...to…” but Sly’s words trailed off until his lips were simply mouthing nonsense as he looked past Murray to where the pink hippo was pointing.

The dark symbols on the wall, which Sly had assumed were merely there for decorative purposes, started to glow a bright blue until the entire room was bathed in their unnatural light. Streaks of green light flashed through the trails of blue, until they centered around several rectangular patterns roughly ten feet above them.

Slowly, dust started shifting from the rectangles. Sly’s grip on his staff tightened as they started to push out from the bottom, forming what looked like a laundry chute. His ears perked up as he heard something tumbling against the walls. One of the chutes opened up to let its contents fall to the ground.

“Is that… spaghetti?”

Indeed it was. A plate of spaghetti bolognese, complete with grated parmesan and a basil leaf, plopped out from the chute and landed on the ground beside the wall. Similarly, the other gutters started depositing various dishes as well, ranging from grilled cheese sandwiches to an entire roasted ham! Soon, the bandit duo were surrounded by a ring of impressive cuisine, their collective scents wafting towards their sensitive snouts.

“This is… this is definitely… the food’s poisoned, right?” Murray muttered, occasionally pausing to swallow the torrent of saliva building up in his mouth.

Sly shook his head. “Nah, couldn’t be. This is an E-rated game, or 3+ if you’re playing in Europe. This is probably just some elaborate way to feed the worshippers of this temple or something, but seeing as how there’s nobody here but us two, I’d say we could go for an early dinner,” the raccoon licked his chops as he stepped towards a bowl of fettuccine, looking around to see if a knife and fork had dropped somewhere as well.

“DON’T TOUCH THAT FOOD!”

Sly leapt nearly 5 feet into the air before coming down on all fours, every single fur on his body standing on end. Still shivering, he slowly righted himself before reaching up to adjust the tiny earpiece, cranking it down several notches. “Cheese and crackers, Bentley, you nearly gave me a heart attack! I have a few white hairs on me now because of you.”

“My bad, Sly, I assumed the reception might be poor, so I figured I had to raise my voice a bit for it to carry. I’m glad to see my homemade 2-way communicator is working as intended,” he chuckled. In his mind, Sly could see the turtle smirking proudly at himself. “Anyways, as I was saying, do not go anywhere near that food, unless you want to join Murray’s diet plan.”

This time, it was Sly’s turn to laugh. “Pfft, seriously? A few extra pounds is what you’re afraid of? I mean, sure, most of the meals here looks high in carbs, but if you think I’d get fat from a sma-”

“That’s exactly what I think, Sly.” Bentley cut off the raccoon in a far more serious tone than he expected. “Those offerings are laced with some kind of addictive agent far more powerful than anything you’ve ever seen. Take one bite, and you won’t be able to stop yourself until there’s nothing left, or you’re too bloated to lift a finger. Even smelling it is dangerous. Heck, I knew a guy who grew a beer belly just by looking at a picture for too long!”

“Wow, that’s some potent stuff,” Sly muttered, glancing at the numerous dishes. He certainly didn’t like the idea of losing his svelte, charming figure to a silly trap in a long-lost temple, but he knew he was too smart to do such a thing. He was the protagonist, after all, and what kind of amazing leader would he be if he needed to be rolled around from heist to heist. “Hey, uh, Bentley? You could have filled us in on these details a bit earlier, don’t you think? It was a really long car ride down here, after all.”

“I did fill you in, twenty-seven times in fact, but every time I did you ended up playing Goldfish with Murray or falling asleep during the briefing. I work hard on my plans, I must say!”

“Right right, sorry,” Sly’s poofy tail curled around his leg awkwardly, grateful that Bentley wasn’t there to glare at him. He vaguely remembered the turtle instructing him to hold his breath and use his staff to lift and use the items in this temple, although he had honestly expected to be handling something toxic or volatile, certainly not food. What an unusual heist this was turning out to be. “D’you hear that, Murray?” Sly turned to face the hippo. “No snacking on the foo-”


PTIIIING! “YEOWCH!”

Sly stumbled back as something small and metallic struck his muzzle at an incredible speed, the raccoon feeling a bruise forming where it hit. For a moment, he was on high alert mode, jumping back against the wall in case another projectile was about to strike him. However, when no further attack came, Sly looked down to inspect the metallic object that struck him.

It was Murray’s belt buckle.

Looking up, Sly was horrified to find the hippo stuffing an entire loaf of garlic bread into his large mouth, his pudgy cheeks bulging from the sheer intake of food. He was shocked to see that Murray had already packed an extra 50 pounds onto his already-tubby body in such a short amount of time, now fully aware of what Bentley was talking about earlier. The pudgy pachyderm’s pear-shaped figure was amplified even further, the lower helm of his sagging gut rubbing against his upper thighs now that it was finally free of the belt. Any sort of space he may have had in between his legs had been completely replaced with pure undulating lard, his pink thighs like undercooked hams rather than the sturdy tree trunks he was known for. Everything, from the corners of Murray’s chubby cheeks down to where his fatty calves and ankles merged into cankles, was covered with an extra layer of blubber that wasn’t there the last time Sly glanced at his partner.

It seemed even Murray was aware of the extra weight, his cheeks flushing deeply as he quickly dropped the crumbly remains of the bread from his muzzle. “I-I uh...I brought that from home.”

“Oh great, I knew this would happen.” Bentley groaned loudly into Sly’s earpiece. “Why do I even bother coming up with these plans when neither of you will listen to me? It’s time to go, guys. This is one trap that can’t be unsprung.”

“Woah woah woah, we didn’t drive all the way down here just to give up at the first little problem!” Sly frowned, pausing to slap a hotdog out of Murray’s paws before continuing. “He’s a little broader, big deal. As long as he doesn’t get stuck in a doorway or something, we’ll still be good to- hey, get that out of your mouth! Er, as I saying, we should still be good!”

“Forget it, Sly, we’re done. There have been zero reports of anyone being able to reject that food once they’ve had a taste. Zero! Zilch! Nada! If you stay any longer, you’ll have to roll him out, and I don’t think your scrawny little body can handle that much weight.”

Sly bit his lower lip in frustration. He had starred in far too many video games and comics to have been defeated by the very first trap! He was Sly, for Pete’s sake, a descendent of the greatest thieves in history! His gang had been through far too much together to just roll over to the first obstacle right away. But, even now, he was struggling to reach past Murray’s gut in order to swipe the breadsticks out from the hippo’s maw, wincing as he heard Murray’s shirt tear along the sleeves. Maybe he should just listen to Bentley for once and try dragging his friend out before he really grew too heavy.

Wait a minute…

“Murray, buddy, can you stand back on that tile again?” Sly asked, pointing towards the pedestal in the middle of the room.

“Sly, what are you-”

The raccoon muted his earpiece before Bentley could lecture him again, grinning as he gestured towards the closed door. “I betcha there’s more food on the other side!”

“M-more?” The hungry hippo’s eyes widened. Sly knew that he was rapidly losing his friend to the food at this rate, but he couldn’t go back now. He was a risk-taker and a gambler, willing to bet everything if it meant a shot at taking home the prize within this temple. “Oh, lots more food, better than the old and musty crud lying around here! Why, I bet there’s an all-you-can-eat buffet at the end, so let’s go find our feast!”

Murray let out an impressively high squeal for one so large and quickly hobbled over, his thighs and calves swishing about. It was almost like watching a toddler walking, seeing how the enormous pachyderm struggled to adapt to the additional weight. His tubby arms stood out to either side of him as he waddled, his thighs grinding against each other before bumping against his sagging apron of a gut. Sly was honestly worried the hippo might actually end up becoming a hindrance, but was surprised to see Murray hop onto the pedestal like nothing was out of the ordinary, even though his belly kept moving long after the rest of him had stopped.

The weighted tile shuddered briefly, then started sinking fully into the ground before Sly even had a chance to hop on with Murray. The edges of the sunken pedestal flashed a bright blue, just as they had before, only the green beams of light traveled towards the shut door instead. Dust shifted and fell from the doorframe, and soon the door swung open outwards, revealing a lengthy hallway. “FOOOOOD!” Murray bellowed, his enormous hips almost knocking Sly off his feet as the tubby hippo waddled forward as fast as his stumpy legs could carry him.

Sly allowed himself a slight grin, watching Murray’s rear bounce and clap as he sped off. He waited until the hippo had squeezed through the doors before finally allowed himself to unmute his earpiece.

“-and I didn’t say anything about the time you tried trading my wheelchair for another hat, but if I had known it would lead you on this recent spree of irresponsible decisions I would have stopped you! Do you understand?”

“Uh… sure thing, Bentley,” Sly muttered, now feeling a bit guilty. Had the turtle been speaking this entire time? “Anyways, I’m gonna be irresponsible again and continue with the heist.”

“You WHAT?!”

Sly bit his lip. “Look, before you give me another lecture I’ll inevitably not listen to, I just wanna say I thought things through for once. You mentioned that the artifact we’re seeking is magical, right?”

For once, Bentley didn’t say anything, although the raccoon thought he heard a sigh on the other end. “Maybe this is all one giant puzzle, you know? Like the objective here is to make it to the end without stuffing ourselves immobile or something. I betcha the artifact we’re after can magically make you thinner, right?”

This time, Sly was certain he heard a sigh from Bentley. “This is risky at best, Sly. You’re putting Murray’s body on the line here, just for a chance at riches that may or may not undo his mental and physical state. If you make a single mistake-”

“Not to worry, I’ll make sure Murray eats everything so nothing happens to me!” The ringtail smirked, happy to hear Bentley was at least somewhat approving of his plan. One more exasperated sigh told Sly that the conversation was over and that the turtle was, reluctantly, agreeing with the risky plan. With his trusty staff in paw, the skinny thief bounded after Murray… only to find the winded hippo leaning against the wall, not even making it halfway down the hallway before running out of steam. “Heh, at least you can’t get too far on your own without me. This is gonna be a piece of cake!” Sly had to stifle a laugh as he watched Murray perk up at that last word.

---

Much to Sly’s surprise, practically every puzzle in this temple involved gorging on food in one way or another. Whether it involved draining a cauldron of pudding to find a key or eating through a wall of Jell-O to reach the other side, Murray proved his usefulness by devouring any and all obstacles they could reach. Even the temple’s monsters, 3 foot tall humanoids made out of smoked meat, all vanished with a flash into the hippo’s broad muzzle. There were several times when Sly was worried that Murray would end up popping from the sheer volume of food he was stuffing into his stomach, but despite the hippo’s gut bloating outwards to insane proportions, he would always waddle around looking for something else to eat afterwards.

It was strange for the titular raccoon to be in the backseat for once. He was so used to being the one performing all the tricky maneuvers, solving all of the puzzles, having all the attention focused on him. It was difficult for him to hand over the reins of the heist to someone else for once, but seeing as how it was the only way for him to progress without destroying his figure, he thought it was an okay trade-off. Besides, it wasn’t like he was useless here; someone had to steer Murray deeper into the temple, or else he’d still be mindlessly stuffing his gullet back at the first room!

“C’mon, bud, the buffet’s right around the corner!” Sly would normally say to spur on his rapidly-swelling friend. However, this time he actually believed those words, as standing before him at the end of yet another corridor was a gigantic brass door, lined with golden markings and symbols. Whether or not a buffet was actually behind those doors was unclear, but the raccoon would bet his hat that the treasure they were seeking was finally within reach. “Hurry up, before I end up eating everything!”

“C-coming!’ Sly heard a wheezing voice behind him. The raccoon turned to face his friend, grimacing as he saw the damage this temple had wrought on his body.

Murray’s stomach rounded the corner several seconds before Murray himself arrived. The enormous fold of blubber bulged several feet outwards before sagging several feet more, his belly button scant inches above the ground. It was impressive enough that the hippo was still mobile even with 500+ pounds of useless fat wobbling in front of him, but the fact that he was managing to not trip over his stomach even with it sliding along the ground was what really blew Sly’s mind. Especially that, crazily enough, Murray’s gut wasn’t even the widest part of his body!

His hips were absolutely massive, as they needed to be in order to support such an enormous belly. The way they swayed and wobbled as the hippo lumbered forward made Sly think about hula dancers, except the raccoon was well aware of just how much power was behind those ungainly swaying hips, the bruises on his back a testament to all the times he had gotten too close and was thrown against the wall.

While it was impossible to squeeze past Murray to get a look at his rear (and Sly really didn’t want to make that attempt), he knew that it too was massive. The bouncing boulders of blubber sagged nearly as low as his stomach, yet that didn’t stop them from swishing and clapping about with every ponderous step he took. Combined with his basketball-sized cheeks, drooping upper arms, and altered personality, Murray looked and acted almost nothing like his previous self. Heck, none of his clothes survived the sudden gain either save for his maroon wrestling mask, and even that was straining at the stitches to contain his pudgy cheeks.

“I kinda wish I brought my camera. I bet he’d totally stick to his diet when he sees how massive he got here,” Sly snickered silently to himself. Thankfully the treasure they were looking for was bound to shrink his friend back to normal, as well as make them a boatload of cash. It felt good to think things through all the way for once. “Hey Murray, care to help open the door for-”

“I smell food!” Sly yelped and leaped out of the way as Murray suddenly charged forward. With a single powerful strike from his hips, the pudgy pachyderm didn’t just open the door, he blasted the metal plates right off their hinges!

“What was that?! I heard an explosion!” Sly heard Bentley yell into his earpiece, the turtle having been silent through their entire venture up until now.

The raccoon took a moment to steady his panicked breathing before responding. “I-it’s nothing, just Murray getting a little too eager is all. Glad you can join us as we finally snag our prize and escape!” Just thinking about their anticipated treasure caused Sly to end up as giddy as his obese partner as he squeezed past him into the treasure room… only to wound up severely disappointed.

“This is… it’s the first room of the temple! We went in a circle?!”

Even as he said this, Sly knew that he was wrong, although he still couldn’t help exclaiming his letdown. The “treasure room” was nearly identically to the first one, complete with glowing blue walls and everything; however, it was also noticeably smaller, roughly half the size or so, and instead of a pressure plate, a pedestal was situated in the middle of the room, with only one item sitting on top of it.

“A...donut...the treasure was a donut?”

Sly frowned as he stepped towards the altar, his tail dragging along the ground dejectedly. Even Murray in his food-crazed state didn’t bother rushing forward to gobble it up, looking just as disappointed as his raccoon friend. Sly picked up the donut. Sure, the golden frosting and the shimmering sprinkles looked rather interesting, but there just couldn’t be any magic imbued in something so… simple. “Uh, hey Bentley? Can you, uh, give me another rundown on what it is we’re looking for again?”

“Certainly, Sly, seeing as what you’re holding is a fake. The real *kzzzzt* -s hidden i- *kzzzrt*”

“Bentley? You there?” Sly furrowed his brow, tapping at his earpiece. While he didn’t expect the signal inside the temple to be stellar, hearing it fizzle out into static all of a sudden was a little more than unusual. What’s worse, the lights in the room abruptly disappeared as if someone had flicked a switch, the only source of light coming from the donut, which was now emitting an eerie green glow.

You have done well to make it this far, raccoon and hippo.

Sly nearly dropped the pastry as someone, or rather something, started speaking to him through his earpiece. But that was impossible, they were on a secure line, so how-

-am I speaking to you? I am a being without form, without limit! This temple is my domain, and within it, you have forfeited your mind and body to me!

This time Sly really did drop the donut, not that it mattered seeing as how it continued to float. Unholstering his staff, the thief prepared himself for an unusual battle. “Listen, I’m not above fighting pastries here. If you don’t knock off this freaky crud and show us to the real treasure, my buddy here will-”

-will what? Eat one of millions of identical donuts scattered throughout this temple? My foolish boy, this not a dungeon full of riches, but a sanctuary for those who wish to live their lives to the fullest! Millenia ago, worshippers would pray and offer their unyielding loyalty to me, and in return I kept them fed.

“Yeah, fattened is more like it!” Sly scoffed, his knuckles turning white around his staff. “What’s your game here? Did you turn your worshippers into prized hogs to eat them? Entrap them?” A deep chuckle could be heard on the other end of the line, one that set the raccoon’s furs standing on end.

My dear boy, I was freeing them! There was no starvation in this land, no need to mindlessly seek out sustenance for hours on end. I severed one of the mortal coils binding them to this world! They never knew hunger, only indulgence and bliss, the kind which your friend is currently experiencing. However, I have droned on long enough. If you won’t listen to my words, then the only recourse is to show you!

Sly opened his words to spit out another insult, only to gasp as the donut flew straight into his opened maw! Gagging and sputtering, the raccoon quickly chewed through the sudden influx of food, only realizing his mistake once he finished swallowing it. “Oh no…”

The same horrid laugh filled the air as the lights returned to the walls, revealing a truly terrifying sight. The same chutes along the walls were depositing food at an alarming rate, creating large mounds of it all around, and it all looked so… so delicious! Sly’s stomach let out an enormous rumble, much like his pachyderm companion behind him, and soon the two of them dove onto separate piles of food.

“Sly, what’s happening? My receiver was short circuiting for a moment there.” Bentley’s frantic voice returned to Sly’s earpiece. However, when his only response was the sound of chewing and smacking, the turtle groaned quite loudly. “Oh no, Sly you didn’t!”

“Not...my fault…” Sly muttered, struggling to control his eating long enough just to respond. He knew this was wrong, that this wasn’t the real him, and yet he couldn’t stop himself from stuffing everything edible into his wide open maw. Five entire meatballs the size of his fist were crammed into his gullet, followed up by an opened package of creamy eclairs. Everything tasted so amazing, the flavors dancing around his tongue before falling into his stomach. He wasn’t even hungry either, he just saw the rising mountain of food as a challenge, something that just had to be eaten, by himself and himself alone!

“Get ahold of yourself, darn it!” Bentley’s panicked voice tore into Sly’s brain, briefly knocking him out of his obsessive binging. “Haven’t you been paying attention to what’s happening with Murray? If you keep this up, you’ll end up as fat as him!”

“Fat…?” Sly mumbled as he pushed two hotdogs into his mouth at once. Slowly, it dawned on him, the realization the food was laced and that he had fallen for one heavy trap! Wiping his muzzle clean of sauce, the raccoon tried leaping back onto his feet, only to instead plop back on his rear again. “Oh no…”

He didn’t even have to look down to know that his beautiful lithe figure had finally been destroyed. Stuffing a cream pie into his mouth, the raccoon groaned as he placed a paw on his middle, finding a soft doughy paunch in place of his washboard abs. Upon further inspection, Sly noticed in between mouthfuls of pizza that his blue shirt was riding up along his middle, his sunken belly button now on full display. His azure pants clung tightly to his waist and thighs, small rips and tears forming at the seams for some reason as the thief nibbled on a turkey leg. Even his angular chin had rounded with an extra layer of pudge, his cheeks and chins wobbling as Sly crammed an entire burrito into his gullet. “M-man, this stuff is potent! I only bwurp ate like two salads!”

“Quit eating already, Sly! Even I can hear you sounding like pig.”

“Right, right, sorry.” Sly gulped hard, briefly aware of the donuts he swallowed as well. Even with his impressive will-power and mental fortitude, he knew he’d be reduced to a black and grey blob if he stayed in this room any longer. The raccoon meant to bite his lip, but ended up biting down on a sub sandwich he had brought to his mouth instead. With a groan, the fatty mustelid slowly hauled himself onto his feet, feeling his forehead grow damp as he struggled against his own weight. Once upright, Sly ate a congratulatory slice of birthday cake before turning to the door, only to find it blocked by something big, pink, and gooey.

“Oh, Murray...”

Whereas Sly managed to find some success in resisting the food, Murray had completely let himself cave into his gluttonous tendencies, the humongous hippo scooping armfuls of food into his conveniently-large mouth. Sauce, frosting, and other various residue smothered his sagging cheeks and billowing chins, not that Murray seemed to care. Heck, he didn’t even mind that his legs had completely been swallowing up by his flowing apron of a belly either, or that he could barely reach past his own moobs anymore, much less the rest of him. Instead, he was content to sit beneath one of the vents, letting the food plop right onto his blubbery chest or into his own open mouth.

“Murray, c’mon bud we gotta get out of here!” Sly tried shaking his friend’s gut, but it was no use. Even if the pink pachyderm abandoned his hypnotic obsession of food, and even if he was still somehow mobile, there was no way either of them were escaping that room. Murray’s rear alone was enough to completely fill out the door frame and then some, rolls of pink pudge molding around the opening. In only 5 short minutes, Murray had gone from pearshaped to a shapeless blob, and he was still growing!

“Mmmf… so good.” The hippo moaned as boneless chicken wings rained down upon him, many of which ended up imbedded in his chins. Sly groaned with frustration, especially seeing as how one of those wings also ended up in his paw, before traveling into his own maw. Frantically swiveling his head as much as his plump neck would allow it, the raccoon looked high and low for something, anything to help them escape. Unfortunately, aside from the podium, the room was completely barren, with nothing more than mountains of food, a mountain of Murray, the chutes depositing the food, and the windows… wait a minute…

“There! That’s our chance to escape!” Sly beamed! They were such large holes cut out of the stone, he was angry with himself for not noticing them sooner! However, even with his newfounded discovery, there was no way he could make the 13-foot climb in his currently-fattened state. Besides, every time he would reach for the wall, he would find his once-empty paw to be holding a cupcake instead, in which he would then unceremoniously stuff it into his gullet. It wasn’t long until his gut started pressing against the wall before he could reach for it again, his shirt ripping at the helm while his pants were currently being reduced to shreds. He was getting nowhere fast; in fact, the only thing he was getting was fat!

With adrenaline coursing through his veins, the rotund raccoon continued looking around for something to help boost him up. There was no way he could push the mound of food beneath it without becoming a mound of lard himself, which inevitably brought him to one option. “Murray! Whatever you do, don’t stop eating!”

Sly knew he was running out of options, and that this was far riskier than anything he had ever performed in his entire thieving career, but he had no other choice. He waddled forward onto Murray’s flowing stomach, feeling his feet sink into the plush chub like it were a carpet. Gradually he made his way closer to the hippo’s head and, grabbing as much nearby food as his will-power will allow it, crammed it into Murray’s already-full mouth!

“Keep eating, buddy, don’t stop! Eat like your life depends on it!” Sly shouted, both out of desperation and to cover up the sounds of his growling stomach. Watching the hippo eat for the both of them was torture for him, but if they were to stand any chance of escaping, he would need a good elevator to reach the window. It was unclear whether or not Murray got the message, but he leaned his head back and opened his maw as wide as it would go, letting his tire-sized arms flop uselessly to his sides.

With sly doing all of the feeding now, and with no point in exerting any energy, Murray’s already-impressive growth rate practically doubled! Even at his 10-ton size, Sly could still feel the hippo growing beneath him, watching the pachyderm’s mouth sink deeper beneath his beach ball-sized cheeks. Looking back, Sly noticed the end of Murray’s belly was starting to press against the opposite wall, which meant his friend was now literally room filling. He didn’t know if he should be impressed or appalled at his friend’s amazing transformation, but one thing's for certain: if Sly relented at the slightest, all of the food would end up going into him instead.

Even so, a large portion of the fattening treats also ended up being “misplaced” inside Sly’s mouth instead. The heroic thief couldn’t help but notice his gut constantly bouncing in his point of view, or feeling his shirt start to strain just from holding in his moobs. Whether he meant to or not, Sly was turning into a blimp, his belly bulging three whole feet in front of him while his rear bounced behind him, the two grey orbs resembling furry balloons. Had the situation not been so dire, the thief would have stopped to wonder why his chub practically defied gravity, as opposed to Murray’s sagging form from earlier.

Sly’s flabby arms were burning as he slid pawful after pawful of meat and sugar into his partner’s mouth, having to press his own impressive gut against the hippo’s chest in order to reach. The majority of the room was either filled with food or Murray’s gelatinous girth, leaving sly to feel oddly small despite the hundreds of extra pounds he was packing. He was exhausted, his hat drenched in sweat while the rest of his torn clothes lay somewhere beneath millions of pounds of Murray. And yet, through perseverance and hard work, he was finally in arms reach of the window!

“We...we did it!” Sly cheered, only to find his mouth full of nachos. What felt like days of nonstop feeding had finally paid off as the massive mustelid gripped the lower ends of the sill and slowly puuuulled himself upwards. It was a very tight fit, Sly blushing as he felt himself take up nearly the entirety of the 4 by 4 hole, but there was still enough room for him to crawl through at least, even if he felt like a TV dinner. “I’ll come back for you Murray, I promise! We’ll figure out a way to undo all this!” He shouted back before crawling forward, his tail swishing as he gazed at the literal light at the end of the tunnel. He felt horrible for leaving his friend back and stuffing him to such a state, but surely diet and exercise could undo all this… right?

“Sure thing, Sly!” Murray called back before snatching at a falling pancake. Having been exposed to the ridiculous amount of addicting chemicals found within the food, the hippo’s body somehow managed to produce the appropriate antibody needed to negate its effects. As such, Murray was completely conscious and aware of the situation, of himself filling an entire room with his blubber alone, and to put it frankly he didn’t feel worried at all. In fact, he was overjoyed to have played such a vital role in their heist, even if they had to leave without the prize.

Besides, it wasn’t like he didn’t enjoy being so large. In fact, he found it oddly entertaining watching his rolls jiggle back and forth, resembling an enormous wad of chewed gum, only softer and (slightly) less sticky. With an amused chuckle, Murray continued to lazily gobble up whatever food fell in front of his mouth. Maybe he’d really impress Sly and fill out the entire room by the time he came back!