It was  Kuya's birthday the other day so I surprised him with a little piece involving his gryphon form battling a blueberry slime! Well, not so much battling as getting blimped up big and round by one I guess :3

Kuya's quest to defeat a mysterious slime doesn't go as planned, though he may end up liking the results in the end...

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Kuya and the Blueberry Slime
By: Indi

The gentle glow of an orbiting light stone lit up the long cavern, casting the shadows of stalactites and stalagmites across the walls. The rock was slick and shiny in most places. A small stream snaked through the cave, the sound of flowing water echoing softly. It was all so relaxing Kuya nearly forgot he was on a mission.

The silver-winged gryphon—dressed in dark blue armor with plenty of golden trim—smiled as he almost casually trekked through the cave. A mysterious slime had been spotted in the area by the locals, though the descriptions were vague and it hadn’t bothered anyone yet. Regardless, they were eager to have it dealt with immediately.

Slimes tended to be more of a nuisance than an actual threat, and Kuya was happy to earn a bit of gold for little effort. Tracking the slime to the cave had been simple enough, and before long it’d be defeated and Kuya would be enjoying a nice drink at a tavern.

Thanks to proper planning and considerable experience, the slime wouldn’t stand a chance. Kuya’s sword had been enchanted to release electrical sparks on contact, perfect for zapping and stunning slime that’d normally be resilient to mere slashes. Hanging from his belt were a trio of potion bottles filled with a solution that would solidify slime on contact as well. To top it all off he knew a spell or two that’d come in handy if all else failed.

An amateur adventurer may have just run in blind and hoped for the best, but Kuya liked to think he was a bit better than that. Well, a lot better than that. “The villagers just don’t understand how lucky they are to have me handling this issue,” Kuya boasted to himself. “I’m prepared, knowledgeable, and about to take out this slime in record time! Honestly I bet they’ll be so impressed they’ll toss in a bit of extra gold in thanks. The whole tavern might buy me a round. And of course they’ll no doubt talk of me for years to come. Kuya the Slime Slayer! I wonder if I’ll have to pose for a statue later?”

Idle thoughts turned into full-on daydreaming. Kuya slowly lost track of his surroundings, missing how the cave opened up further ahead, how the pathway abruptly dropped off. He was musing on the speech he’d give after the cave was renamed in his honor when his paw failed to find solid ground.

The gryphon flailed and yelped, but there was nothing for him to grab to regain his balance. Soon he found himself sliding downhill and out of control. The bumpy surface battered his belt, and within seconds his sword was torn away, plunging into the stream beside him. Next went the potions, one shattered and the other two simply lost. In the chaos Kuya didn’t even realize they were gone.

The slick slope eventually ended with a drop into a wide open cavern, and Kuya cursed as he went over the edge. He clenched his eyes shut while falling, not knowing whether to expect a hard landing or a splash into water. Instead he felt himself hit something soft and squishy that made him wobble as an odd glorp echoed out.

Relieved to be neither soaked nor bruised, Kuya took a moment to look around. The cavern he’d ended up in was massive, mostly filled by a shallow lake and some dry spots. A large hole in the ceiling let through plenty of natural light from the outside. He’d have enjoyed the beauty if something didn’t wobble him again.

Kuya finally looked down, and frowned as he realized what had broken his fall—a sizable blob of translucent blue slime. He’d found his target alright, but in the worst possible way. He immediately tried to struggle his way free, but the slime clung firmly to his body, trapping him in place.

“Ugh, this was supposed to be easy!” Kuya fumed.

Large globs detached from the slime, and they rushed straight for Kuya’s open beak. His grumbling was quickly muffled as the distinct taste of blueberry hit his tongue. Kuya’s squirming intensified. He pulled and shook and wiggled with all his might. All he seemed to do was jiggle the slime, though. Meanwhile he was steadily starting to fill with the delicious slime.

Kuya’s middle began to swell, growing rounder and thicker as he was forced to gobble more goop. The durability enchantment he’d put on his armor allowed it to stretch to match his expanding girth, perhaps the only positive Kuya saw in the situation. Captive and defeated, Kuya could only watch as he continued to swell.

Slimes that were obsessed with stuffing people were the worst kinds, at least from the perspective of the gryphon currently getting stuffed by one. At that moment Kuya would’ve even preferred the slimes that simply engulfed people. Having to eat his way out of them would feel like a triumph rather than defeat.

Frowning at how round his belly had become, Kuya noticed something odd about his talons—they were blue. Brighter than his stretched armor, it was a shade he thought he’d seen before. Then he remembered the taste of the slime, and his struggles picked up again. Blueberry slime, he was getting filled with blueberry slime!

The stuff was the worst of the worst, despite how tasty it was. Anyone who ate it would gradually turn into a big, sloshy, slime-filled blueberry. Before, Kuya had been expecting a day of immobility followed by some extra weight that’d be embarrassing to explain away to the villagers. Now he was in danger of being a massive berry, perhaps for the foreseeable future.

Of course no amount of frustration could free him from the mischievous mass. Kuya’s entire body was starting to puff up as more of the slime emptied into him. His middle was huge and his limbs unwieldy. His cheeks had rounded out, and he felt them wobble whenever he turned to worry about something new. Even his tail was thicker, not that he could see it. The enchanted armor still held, though straps were digging into his body and he could hear the first, faint tears of seams.

The blimpy blue gryphon’s emotions rapidly shifted between worry and annoyance as he took on a spherical shape. One-by-one straps snapped and armor plates shot off, Kuya’s outfit unable to handle his immense form. He was no longer trapped by the slime but by his own weight and awkward size. As he wobble he rocked back and forth, muffled slorshes and glorps coming from his middle. It was enough to make him blush.

Kuya wasn’t a complete orb by the time the last of the slime pushed into his beak, but he still felt absolutely huge. His limbs had rounded out so much they were merely domes attached to his body, his paws and talons sticking out of them. His cheeks were nearly as big as his head, with his beak nestled in between them. A few bits of Kuya’s armor and clothes remained on him, but they were all torn and on the verge of falling away.

There was no sign of relief on the gryphon just yet, though. He knew just enough about blueberry slimes to know there’d be a second swell, and soon.

Right on cue Kuya began blimping once more. Being right had never felt so terrible. His body rounded out until even the domes of his limbs were enveloped, the gryphon finally becoming a sphere. He was expanding in all directions, gaining both height and width at a steady pace. Kuya’s body pushed against the wall of the cavern’s entrance, and was nudged further back towards the middle in the process.

The last of Kuya’s armor fell off, revealing just how blue and berry-like the gryphon had become. His paws and talons sunk deeper and deeper into his ballooning body, inevitably vanishing from sight completely. On his back his wings looked comically small thanks to his growth, his tail so thick it could barely wag. His massive cheeks made turning his head impossible, not that Kuya could see much beyond the curve of his middle he’d sunken into.

After what felt like an eternity of swelling—first with slime and then with juice—Kuya’s expansion finally ceased.

The gryphon had grown to nearly ten times his usual size, now dominating the cavern. He was so high up he could actually see the foliage lining the edge of the hole in the ceiling, hear the birds chirping above. As he looked he couldn’t help but wonder if the opening was even wide enough for him to be pulled through at his current size. The thought made him blush deeper.

Kuya gently wobbled in place, effectively immobile. He could feel the juice and slime swirling around within him.

“All that planning for nothing. I can’t believe I got ambushed by a dumb slime of all things.” Kuya sighed and mumbled. “Course, I did technically defeat it—no way I’d let that thing go after all it put me through. Yeah, a win is a win!”

The gryphon’s frown turned into a grin that was getting smugger by the second. Had the giant berry been able to pose triumphantly he certainly would’ve.

“The villagers didn’t specify how I had to deal with the slime, just that it be dealt with, so I’ll still get that nice reward. Hmm, might take a while for them to find me, though, and the longer I’m stuck like this the more likely it is to be permanent.” Doubt returned, but only briefly. “Not that being a berry would make me a worse adventurer! I bet it’ll make me a better one in fact. Just think of how intimidated everyone will be once I’m towering over them. I could flatten a bandit camp in one go, belly-bump a dragon into submission, deflect the blows of a whole army! Nevermind being Kuya the Slime Slayer, I’ll be Kuya the Berry Boulder! Maybe I should work on that name…”

The boasting returned in full force as Kuya gloated of his past and future glories to an audience of one: himself. And throughout it all he slowly wondered what it’d be like to be even bigger.