(Would you believe the thumbnail I used is official art???)

This is a commission for  Brokendestiny about Gabi from .hack//GU. A new root town just opened up in The World R:2, and with it, brand new items that players can eat! Gabi takes a visit to try some of their treats and gets a little too carried away.

(I also played the .hack//GU re-release somewhat recently and that's still pretty fun.)

Enjoy! Comments appreciated.

***

To all players of The World R:2
Thank you for your patience during our update. We are proud to announce a brand new root town in our latest expansion. Players can now travel to the H (eta) server to explore the new root town, Abilus Fin, a beach resort dedicated to relaxation and areas rich with buff items. We are also rolling out new and unique character customization options for all players. Player characters will now be able to physically consume brand new like food and drinks to add a special layer of depth to our captivating world. Consuming any of the new Edible Items will have various realistic effects on your character’s appearance. Eating healthily could cause your character to become fit, and eating unhealthily could cause some weight gain on your character. Please explore everything that Edible Items have to offer! Please continue to enjoy The World R:2!

Gabi skimmed through the latest update info as closely as he could, but those who knew him knew that he hardly read anything on the internet that was more than three lines long. The head of a prestigious guild like Kestral shouldn’t concern himself with a silly thing like reading after all. He was simply excited to play again after The World R:2’s lengthy update time.
“What a slog,” Gabi growled as he logged back in. “Don’t they know how irritating all these words are!?”
As expected, Gabi barely got through the first few sentences before closing out the tab. He’d learned everything that was important to him, after all. The World is back up again, there’s a new root town and in that root town, there were things he could eat. He smacked his lips and let himself drool over the prospect of eating food from The World R:2.
As Gabi logged in, he warped right to the new H server root town, Abilus Fin. He was greeted by the sight of a crisp blue sky and endless glowing sea alongside a beach, and the sound of gentle crashing waves and gulls drifting in the distance. He walked out onto a boardwalk that ran around an enormous and luxurious looking resort that saw PCs going in and hardly any coming out, except to enjoy the summer scenery.
“So this is Abilus Fin, eh?” Gabi gawked at the gleaming beachfront and lavish-looking resort. “Talk about your summer getaways! This place looks fantastic! Perfect for a guildmaster to sit back and relax!”
Gabi began to stroll down the boardwalk, taking in the new root town. With the warm weather and gleaming sun, he felt the urge to strip down and let his rippling muscles glimmer and flex in the sunlight. He always did take pride in his ripped physique, after all. He opted to stay clothed for now, but he was sure that the spirit of vacation that the root town gave off would take him over ventually.
As he sauntered along, he couldn’t help but notice some of the leaner PCs snacking on some treats. He’d never seen anyone in The World actually eat something, so he was fascinated by the first one he saw. Some were eating shiny candied apples with golden caramel that dripped from the stick. Others had hunks of meat on a bone that glistened with fat and juice and looked tender enough to fall off. Other players had creamy-looking milkshakes that looked thick and creamy enough to shovel through.
Gabi couldn’t hide his hunger anymore, salivating audibly and having to wipe his lips of slathering drool. “That’s it,” he roared. “I’ve gotta have some of this food!”
He ran up to a human character with a meat stick and asked “Where do you get those!?”
With a startle, the player’s answer came out in a panicked voice, his pointed finger shaking. “Uh uh uh, there are stands and merchants all over the boardwalk down there!”
With a hearty guffaw, Gabi ran in the direction the player pointed. As he ran off into the distance, he failed to notice the player’s model expand to grow a visible paunch that peeked through his tunic.

Gabi stared agape at the rows of food stands that lined the path leading up to the resort. He had never seen so much delicious food in-game before. He took in so many enticing sights and sounds; the sizzle of fried sweets, the crackling of meats on a spit, chocolate drizzling over bananas, shaved ice slowly but surely piling up into a towering frosty treat. He’d never thought he’d get so hungry from playing a game before, but a pit began to open up in his stomach as if he hadn’t eaten for days.
The towering beast character darted up to an NPC standing near the entrance to the food path and struck up a conversation as if it would respond with anything other than its preset dialogue. “Hello there, tiny guide!”
“Welcome to Abilus Fin’s welcome festival,” the NPC chimed. “Anything I can help you with?”
“Tell me more about the delicious treats in this town,” Gabi demanded.
“Every merchant in Abilus Fin sells special Edible Items! Not only do they include special effects and enhancements, but you’ll actually be able to eat them! You can save them for an adventure or eat them right away! Just keep in mind that whatever food you eat will have—”
Gabi impatiently skipped the rest of the dialogue and continued speaking. “I imagine the items in here cost a pretty penny, don’t they? Do guildmasters have any special privileges?”
“All guildmasters receive a special discount on all items, depending on how famous your guild is. But we’re having a special deal as part of our Abilus Fin Introduction Event. All special items are currently free of charge!”
Gabi staggered back as his relatively simple mind reeled with possibilities. “D-d-d-did you say everything is… FREE!?!?”
The NPC smiled. “Please enjoy as many of our new Edible Items as you like during our Introduction Event!”
Gabi needed no more information. He dashed up to the nearest stand, which was serving takoyaki slathered in sauce . Each takoyaki was as big as a human hand.
“Excuse me merchant,” Gabi said through his slathering lips. “What delicious-looking treats am I looking at here?”
The merchant happily greeted Gabi before answering. “Those would be our special Chim Sphere Takoyaki! They’re made with several pieces of octopus, loads of batter, and topped off with our special sauce.”
“I’ll take a 12-piece set!”
“Uh… sir?” the merchant said sheepishly after she was sure she heard him right. “We typically only serve the 12-piece set to groups of at least three—”
“I didn’t come here to talk about numbers,” Gabi roared. “I came here to eat! 24 pieces, now!”
“It’s just that so many takoyaki for one character would—”
“C-c-c-coming right up!” The merchant left the front for a few short seconds and returned with a tray of Chim Sphere Takoyaki that could barely fit in her arms. “Here you are, sir!”
Gabi picked the tray up with one hand. “Pleasure doing business with you!”
The beast character found a bench to sit on and licked his lips at the sight of the enormous takoyaki glittering with sauce.
“Time to chow down,” Gabi exclaimed, wasting no more time in pinching up a piece and stuffing it into his mouth. Even with jaws as monstrous as Gabi’s, the takoyaki filled out his mouth and made it hard to chew. But as he bit, he ignored the piping hot steam and moaned at the flavors exploding in his mouth.
“Shooo guud…” Gabi muttered as he chewed and swallowed. The piece seemed to land in his stomach with a thud. He hardly felt his gut physically extend, his navel pushing against his belt ever so slightly.
“I can’t believe how delicious that was! I’ve gotta finish these off so I can try some more!”
Like the musclebound player he was, Gabi powered through the takoyaki’s steam as he gulped down each gigantic piece one after the other. He chewed noisily and rudely, and hardly stopped in between pieces. It was difficult to assume that he was actually tasting the food with how fast he was eating, but he relished in every single bite and moaned with satisfaction every time the savory sauce dappled his tongue and the crisp fluffy batter crunched in his fangs.
But he was completely oblivious to what each swallow was doing to his figure. One might not have noticed the distended belly he’d grown from his first piece, but each subsequent swallow pumped his belly out even further. Slowly but surely, the chiseled abs he hid behind his clothing were melting away into a plush and heavy potbelly. A steadily growing muffin top was already pushing further over his belt as his belly pudge started to obscure the proud lion on his buckle.
The rest of his body began to soften as well. His waist bloated alongside his belly as his belt began to strain against the added poundage. Love handles started to form and fold over as his widening waist was cinched by the ever-tightening belt around it. His hind quarters began to inflate into a generous bubble butt that sucked up the base of his tail and filled out the seat of his pants, while his thighs were becoming encased in plush and the metal bindings on his legs became taut. Even his beefy arms lost a bit of their definition as they became softer and flabbier. His hardened chest lost their firmness as they flared out into moobs that tried to escape his tunic.
Gabi could still be called muscular, but it was punctuated by a heavy gut and rounder features. Yet he remained ignorant of the changes in his body, completely enamored by the flavors of the food. He hadn’t thought that food like this was possible to make in an online game, but he was thankful that he was around to try it. As he finished off the last piece of Chim Sphere takoyaki, he licked his fingers of the sauce. He hadn’t eaten so well in the game before, which is to say he’s never eaten at all. But he was already in paradise as he ate up his first real meal in The World.
“A guildmaster like myself could get used to meals like this!” Gabi purred. “In fact, I’m still feeling hungry! I’ve gotta have some more grub!”
Gabi hopped to his feet, too excited to feel his new potbelly jostle a bit or how tight his belt was starting to cinch around his waist. He couldn’t even feel how snug his clothes were becoming around his frame. His stomach growled as if he didn’t eat for days. And now that The World was capable of sating his appetite several times over, who was he to ignore his base instincts as a beast?
“I’ve worked my buns off for this world and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it,” Gabi declared as he clenched his cheeks in punctuation. He still paid no attention to how his rump jiggled in response. “But now it’s time for me to indulge a bit! A beast like me is ravenous, after all!”
He looked back to the plethora of food stands leading up to the spa. The festival was bustling with players who were eager to explore the new root town and try all of the new items for themselves. Practically everybody in Abilus Fin had something to eat.
“It all looks so delicious,” Gabi droned again, drooling as if the food he just ate was already deleted from his memory. “Where do I even begin? What am I even hungry for?”
Gabi carefully scanned each stand, his eyes stopping at every meat, candy, and treat that he saw being prepared. As he watched everyone enjoying themselves, he knew what he wanted.
“I’M HUNGRY FOR ALL OF IT,” he roared, startling some of the nearby players.
Gabi stomped over to the nearest food stand—a fried ice cream shop—still ignoring his wobbling body. Some of the other players there cleared the way as his enormous stature loomed over the stand. The merchant player inside peeked out to look up at Gabi and politely smiled.
“Welcome,” the merchant greeted. “You must be Gabi, the guildmaster of Kestral, am I right?”
“You’re damn right I am,” Gabi said as he pumped his chest, his moobs jiggling wildly. “This certainly looks like a fine treat!”
“Best tempura ice cream in Abilus Fin! Also the only tempura ice cream around here!”
“I’ve got to know what flavors you have here,” Gabi asked.
“Well, we’ve got chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, matcha, red bean, cookie dough, mango, melon, ube, and even some foreign flavors like—”
“Stop! I’ve heard enough! I’ll take one of everything!”
The merchant cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, which one—”
“All of them! The food’s free today, after all! And I’m all about keeping myself well-fed!”
“O-one of everything, coming up!”
It took the merchant quite some time to make sure that each piece of tempura ice cream stayed stacked on top of each other, but she eventually managed to pull it off and slid the enormous platter across the stand table. “One of everything right here, Gabi sir!”
“Much obliged!” Gabi scooped it up in one hand and popped one heaping serving into his mouth. The crunchy cool sweetness made him moan again and started eating noisily once more, this time putting off some of the players that were still circled around him.
“Delicious,” Gabi declared as he ate up some more.
“I’m glad you like it, Gabi…sir…?” The merchant’s voice trailed off when he heard a rumbling coming from Gabi’s stomach. His entire body started to quiver strangely. “Um… sir?”
The beast was too enraptured by his own eating to pay hear anyone else. But everyone around him got a good view of what was about to happen.
His potbelly growled and churned as it grew, making his belt audibly creak the impending swell of flab tried to escape. Nevertheless, his love handles began pouring over his belt and making it sink further and further into the deepening crease of his waist. Any firmness that still remained in his belly was completely melted into jiggly, bulbous fat. And that fat began to tease open the seams of his tunic and expose his meatier flesh. The overhang of his stomach started melting into his lap like the ice cream he was greedily shoveling into his maw. The luscious mane on his chest lifted up as his bosom grew several sizes at once, hanging low and sinking into the quivering top layer of his belly.
The pounds started to round out the rest of his frame as well. The top of thighs began to kiss each other as his legs thickened, tearing the seams of his pants downward. His bloating butt began melting over the back of his knees, the plush thickness of his cheeks lifting up his coattails and cutting open the seat of his pants. His tail practically quivered in fright as it became lodged in between his rump like lips slurping up a noodle. His cheeks began to puff out like marshmallows, folding itself into a thick neck roll that he wore like a choker.
Gabi quickly polished off the last bit of tempura ice cream. He dropped the platter back on the counter with a clatter. He roared out a belch that echoed throughout the root town and patted his stomach triumphantly, barely hearing the heavy thunk against his gut or feeling the jiggle reverberate across his belly.
“Delicious,” he growled. “Why didn’t those CC admins ever think of this before?”
“Sir,” the merchant said meekly, trying not to upset the giant that grew wider before her eyes. “I’m not sure if you’re aware of the effect that Edible Items are supposed to have, but—”
“The only effect I’m concerned with is that I can’t get enough of the stuff! What else do we have around here?”
Gabi looked around again. Between the barbecue meat sticks, frozen chocolate bananas, cotton candy, candied apples, and the rest of the seemingly-endless amount of stands lining the boardwalk and entrance path, the beastman’s hunger started to fire on all cylinders. The only thing that occupied his thoughts was food, and eating a whole lot of it.
“Attention, Abilus Fin,” Gabi shouted, practically silencing the entire town. “I, the great Gabi of Kestral, will be passing by every single stand in town to taste some of your delicious treats and snacks! Be ready when I get there!”
The volume and intensity that Gabi spoke with spooked everyone into getting right to work on cooking. As famous as Kestral was, Gabi himself was even more famous, and none of them wanted to anger the man who ruled a guild of PKs. In mere minutes, they all had meals big enough to satiate his appetite.
Gabi didn’t so much stomp over to each stand as he did lumber, his newly added weight swaying clumsily with every step. But he moved with such confidence that he hardly noticed anything other than how long it took him to get from one place to another. He filled up his arms with a tower of food that grew little by little as he bounced between each stand. Soon enough, he was heaving a pile of food that threatened to obscure his eyesight. And he slathered over it the whole time.
“Much appreciated, Abilus Fin!” Gabi declared. Every merchant breathed a sigh of relief as he went to sit by himself.
One player whispered to another “Should we tell him what all that food’s gonna do to him?”
“You try telling the Kestral guildmaster that,” he replied.
Gabi found an open table with stone chairs and plopped his tower on top. As he sat down (his butt spreading across the surface like cookie dough) he rubbed his hands together and giggled.
“Can’t let any of this food go to waste,” Gabi drooled. “Time to chow down!”
The beast man opted not to use his hands and simply dropped his face into the pile of food, eating away from his tower like a pig at a trough. He savored each bite, though you wouldn’t know it by how voraciously he chomped away.
“Deh-lisshus,” he said through his stuffed cheeks. “I can’t get enough.”
The food was so delicious and plentiful, Gabi couldn’t even feel it when his body began to change again. But the amount of food he was ingesting all at once, made it happen even faster.
Gabi’s belly swelled another few inches forward, his navel swallowing up his belt buckle in a flood of belly flab, smothering his lap warmly and teasing and tickling his knees. His love handles completely gulped up his waistband, which creaked agonizingly as it threatened to snap from the weight. His moobs peeked out from his mane and tunic as they flabbed over the hem of his clothing as if emerging from a cocoon.
His stocky thighs grew more intimate as they were caked with layers of new pudge that made him spread like molasses. His pants tore all along as his knees oozed with flab and his legs became thicker, with portions of plump thigh flesh leaking out of the holes. His bubble butt was the first to escape, bursting his pants seat and gobbling up more of his tail. Though his rump cheeks were bulbous and round, they splayed out onto the cool stone seat and rolled over like melted ice cream. As Gabi continued to eat, his butt began to spill over the edge of his chair as his ever-growing lower body overtook the very thing he sat on. If one were looking, they wouldn’t even be able to see a seat under all of Gabi’s weight. If his arms had any of their previous definition, they were now buried under added layers of flab blanketing his upper arms and slowly working their way out of his armlets.
The metal fixings and armor on Gabi’s body groaned and creaked in agony, trying and failing to contain every new pound that the beastman packed on. The stiches on his tunic came undone and let more of his flab pour out. The metal fixings all over his body were either broken or barely hanging on, letting his meatier parts flop outward and jiggle violently.
He had hoggishly eaten through his entire tower. He might have noticed the crisp ocean air hitting his exposed bits of flab through holes in his suit, the metal on his armor either broken or barely hanging on with very little strength left. But the simple act of eating and the taste of everything he ate was the only thing he cared about. He licked his lips lustily and smacked them loudly.
“Mm, mm, mm,” he mumbled. “The World has some delectable treats now! I’m surprised how fast it went down! Hm?”
A single cupcake left on the table caught Gabi’s eye. He licked his lips one more time. “Well, I’m certainly not one to waste food!”
Gabi swiped up the cupcake, tossed it in the air, and snapped it up with his jaws. As soon as he swallowed.
*BANG*
*POP*
*SNAP*
*RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP*
The metal on his suit snapped clean off. The clothes on his body exploded into shreds. His entire outfit was obliterated as his blimp of a body escaped from its confines. His belly smacked against his thighs with a puffy slap. His rump surged clean over the edge of his seat. His thighs met each other in a meaty, plush embrace and his moobs flopped out as if he threw off a bra.
It was only now that Gabi noticed something was off. He looked down to see what had just happened and was met with a perky set of moobs and a well-fed belly that he could use as a desk. The table he sat at dug its edge into his flabby, layered gut.
“Is this…supposed to happen?” Gabi asked, scratching his head.
He brought up the Abilus Fin welcome notice to his peripheral and mustered up all of his concentration to read as much as he could. Eventually, he reached the important part.
“Consuming any of the new Edible Items will have various realistic effects on your character’s appearance. Eating healthily could cause your character to become fit, and eating unhealthily could cause some weight gain on your character.”
“Weight gain!?” Gabi jerked.
He heaved all of his new weight up as he jumped to his feet, barely minding the table and chair that his wideness tipped over. He was an obese, pear-shaped blob of a beast, easily several hundred pounds heavier than he was only a few moments ago, not to mention completely naked (save for a thong he didn’t know he had, obscured by his own folds of pudge and a rump that sucked it all up).
“My goodness,” he growled. “I’m so fat now! I’m obese! I’m enormous! I’m…!”
Gabi gripped his love handles as if to test his new pounds, but he felt something stir when he squeezed his flabby bits, letting some of his fat squish through his fingers.
“Oh my,” he purred, playing with his plush love handles as if they were clay. He gave his newly-bloated gut a tentative pat and watched it jiggle in response. He gave it a few more meaty slaps and let himself wobble with his rotundity. He dug under his generous muffin top and heaved his belly upwards, his flabby arms buckling under the weight, his hands buried inside his own blubber. “I feel…good. Powerful, even! I must three times as big as I was before…!”
He took one step forward and felt something jostle and smack the back of his knees. Gabi looked back and was surprised to see his butt in full view, his thickset cheeks hanging low and heavy down his thighs.
“Wow,” Gabi mewed. “Now that’s a butt!” He reached behind and worked his hands deep into the flesh piled on his backside. He pushed in as deep as he could, goosing himself fervently as if he were hugging his rump. He squeezed and squished it and spanked it until it jiggled even more than his belly could.
“I feel…I feel amazing,” Gabi roared. “I am large and in charge now! I’ve never felt so big! So mighty! So…fat! I think I could get used to this! In fact…”
Gabi looked over to the beach and saw players in special swimwear skins enjoying the coastline.
“…I’m looking pretty beach-ready right about now!” Gabi hooked the straps of his thin, revealing thong and snapped them back into place, making his body jiggle. “Why don’t I go greet the locals with my brand new bod!”
Gabi waddled over to the beach, making sure that every thunderous plod and every sway and swing of his fattened physique made his presence known. When he arrived on the sand, every player turned over to see him, and many of them were either dumbfounded, shocked, or completely awestricken by what Gabi looked like now.
“I am the great Gabi,” he yowled. In place of flexing as he usually did, he smacked his belly proudly. “And I’m here to party, relax, and eat some good grub!”