The outskirts of Wyndon were well known as the place to be if you wanted to run something temporarily. After all, directly west of the metropolis were open fields that could charitably be called mildly developed. So, it wasn't really a surprise that every few months a city of tents would pop up near the city proper, the mishmash of canvas and aluminum quickly congealing into what would come to be known as the Wyndon Winter Circus. Featuring rickety rides, cheap treats, and a midway that was as scammy as they came, the circus wasn't a place to expect outstanding quality, but it certainly was a place to expect a day of whimsical excitement. Amidst the crowds of trainers and Pokemon hanging around the entrance, one group was figuring out how to make the most of the fleeting morning...

"Oh, I don't know which ride I want to go on first..." mused a certain trainer aloud to her Pokemon. "The pirate ship never disappoints, but I bet if I don't go on the roller coasters as soon as possible then the lines will get too long."

There was just something about the allure of the circus that sent Steph's mind wandering. For once, she was more focused on the day to come than her own Pokemon. The slight change-up in her priorities was not unoticed by the first of her mons, a Gardevoir named Serena:

"...Um, Steph?" the psychic-type began with a bit of telekinesis, "You mentioned the roller coasters?"

"Yeah, what about it?" the woman shot back.

"Well, not to dampen the mood, but I don't think all of us would be able to go on the thrill rides." Serena pointed behind herself, towards the other two Pokemon the trainer had brought. One of them, a prissy little Sylveon named Sylvie, looked mildly distraught at being reminded that they would be too short to ride. The other, a Zoroark by the name of Zoe, was completely unconcerned, mostly due to not knowing what a thrill ride was.

"Oh, don't worry girls!" said Steph to the group. "Did I not tell you all? I planned for that."

"You don't mean-" said Serena.

"Exactly! I think I can trust you women enough to have fun by yourselves while I go on the rides alone."

"Really?" exclaimed the Gardevoir. "I appreciate being allowed off on my own, but I thought you were worried that we-"

"-Would get up to trouble?" finished Steph. "Oh, please! How much trouble could you three possibly get up to in a couple of hours? It's fine; just meet me back right here later this afternoon and it'll all be A-OK."

"A-alright," stammered Serena. "If you think so..."

And with that, Steph went on her separate way, into the hustle and bustle of the circus crowds. The three pokemon were left alone for the first time that morning... a perfect opportunity for the three of them to begin feuding.

"Well, you heard the lady," said Sylvie in pokemon speak, "Let's get a move on!"

"Hold on," replied Serena, "Where do we even get a move on *to*? This place is enormous, and I don't think any of us have an idea of what to do first."

"I'll tell you what we do first, Serena: whatever we want! Right, Zoe?"

Zoe, who had been standing awkwardly behind the Sylveon, seemed caught off-guard by her sudden entrance into the conversation. "Uh... yeah..." the mute Zoroark signed with her paws, "We can... get food and stuff..."

"I meant more like the attractions, but we can sure do that!" said Sylvie, "What are you planning to get? I adore the funnel cake they serve here!"

Zoe thought on the offer for a minute, her paws scratching her head as her concentration boiled over.

"...Maybe some fried eggs?" innocently signed the fox.

Sylvie was not particularly impressed by the answer. "Come *on* Zoe, here they serve things that are a little more fun than that!"

Zoe racked her brain even harder to modify her response, the little gears of her mind whirring away in an attempt to function like a supercomputer.

"...Fried eggs with ketchup on them?"

"Bah!" shouted Sylvie, "You've got a lot to learn about fun fairs, don't you?" The snowy white eeveelution looked ready to start running in whatever direction got her away from the discussion. "Whatever- you two weenies can go off on your own path, *I* have a date with a certain novelty stand!"

"Wait, Sylvie!" began Serena, but it was too late for the Gardevoir's cries. The Sylveon took off like a track star, dodging through the droves of people entering the park until she was completely shrouded by pedestrians. Serena slumped her shoulders- losing track of Sylvie this early on just meant she'd get up to no good in record time.

"Well, it's just us, isn't it..." said the psychic-type to her foxy cohort, only for her to turn around and realize that the Zoroark had disappeared without a trace, mingling with the crowds and leaving Serena by herself.

The dirt paths between the carnival’s attractions began to feel a lot smaller as a certain white-hot ball of energy flew through them. Their agility was unmatched, as was their focus; the Sylveon took as close of a straight line to their destination as the crowds would allow, brushing up against just about everyone in her way as she barreled unflinchingly towards her destination. A stray candy stand dared stand in front of her obsession; Sylvie responded by shimming under its cloth tarp like she was attempting to clear a trench covered in barb wire. The carny with the poor luck to be stationed there was only mildly surprised to see the flash of white and pink prance behind him. After all, trespassing pokemon were frowned upon but expected all the same. Doubly expected at this point was the fairy-type juggernaut descending upon an unfortunate little cart in the back of the fair…

Sylvie’s heart rate quickened as she neared the balloon stand, half due to having sprinted nearly a kilometer in record time, and half due to being so close to balloons. A barrage of the colorful rubber orbs was tied down next to the cart: a jovial assortment that ranged from standard shapes to ones that were even shaped like a pikachu. It wasn’t just the perfect camouflage for a stealthy Jigglypuff, it was helium-puffed catnip to the eeveelution- and as she gazed upon the arrangement Sylvie made a silent pledge to collect as many of them as she could.

“Thank you for your patronage!” squeaked the Greedent manning the stand to two departing customers. The morning had progressed well for the chunky squirrel, sales were on track to beat the last year easily. So why did he feel an oncoming sense of dread? The mon had little time to ponder his emotions, not when there was a panting Sylveon approaching his balloon cart. Leaning against a spare helium tank, the Greedent put on an earnest face. Time to make another sale.

“Well, how do you do, darling?” said Sylvie, not to the employee but rather in the gas tank’s direction.

“Fine as fine can be!” replied the Greedent. “Looking to buy a balloon?”

“Oh, you don’t know the half of it.” Muttered the Sylveon, “Yep, looking to get my first hit out of the way early!”

“First hit?”

“Oh, it’s just a saying,” said Sylvie with a wave of her ribbons, “Now, do you have anything in pink?”

“Absolutely!” said the cashier, and with that he pulled out an uninflated fuschia balloon from within the cart. The Greedent slapped the balloon onto the helium tank’s nozzle and gave the crank a swift push. Sylvie watched intently as the balloon grew into a proper orb, helium piling in and threatening to have the rubber sphere take off to the heavens. Thankfully the cashier grabbed hold of the balloon with a spare paw before that could happen, tying it to a string which in turn was tied to the cart.

“There we go,” exclaimed Greedent with a beaming smile. “Now, the first balloon we hand out to anybody is free, provided they give us a name for ledger purposes. Any chance you could give me yours?”

“Not a problem at all, darling,” beamed Sylvie back. “It’s Sylvie.”

The fairy-type might as well had told the Greedent to go fuck himself from the way his expression turned. The jovial smile was extinguished, replaced by a look of outright concern.

“…You said you were Sylvie?”

“Yes?” asked the catfox inquisitively, “is there some sort of problem or-“

“There is,” said the squirrel, “that name is on a no-sell list. It’s on all of our no-sell lists. For legal reasons we can’t actually trust you around these balloons and-“

“You’ve already made me the balloon, so I don’t know why I can’t just go on my merry way with at least one of the things-“

“Rules are rules, Ms. Sylvie, I can’t just disregard them like that!”

“I don’t give a damn, darling, just hand the balloon over!” Sylvie’s could feel her fangs bearing as she said that; she didn’t mean to, but decided it was a nice touch for intimidation purposes.

“Oh, we’ve seen what you do with helium,” replied the Greedent, his chubby face now formed into a decisive frown. “Cretins like you shouldn’t be fifty feet near this place!”

“Oh, so I’m a cretin, am I?” said Sylvie, raising her voice, “I’ll have you know that I’ve frequented this place for years, and I’ve never had a problem buying a balloon from here. If what you desire is decency, then maybe you shouldn’t sell such a titillating product! Mark my words, you can’t keep that gas contained away from a upstanding citizen like me for long. I’ll call every authority I know, bring them down here, and make. You. Pay!”

The Greedent didn’t falter one bit against Sylvie’s long-winded ranting. What he did do was close his eyes and cry out:

“SECURITY!”

Sylvie had no clue where the two Machoke clad in yellow vests came from, or how they came so fast. What she did know was that she was being accosted by them, and properly escorted far from the premises. Struggling against the pair’s muscles, there was no shortage of bickering from the fairy-type as she was led away from the balloon stand, her desired prizes shrinking in her vision the further away they got.

“Oh you’ll see who can’t buy a balloon today.” Squealed Sylvie with the rage of a madman. “You’ll all see!”

That was the last threat Sylvie could make before she was then unceremoniously dumped outside the circus’s grounds.

The mid-morning sun beat down heavily on the midway, its harsh rays consistently counteracted by the winter winds. It all averaged out to decent weather, but to Serena it only amplified the liminal feeling that had been plaguing her thoughts ever since she’d been unceremoniously ditched. Sure, this wasn’t the first time she’d been alone, but as time progressed and she still hadn’t found anything to do, it quickly became the most annoying time.

Sticking close to the hastily built wooden stands, the Gardevoir’s search was still bearing little fruit. Ring toss, darts, crude fishing mini-games- there wasn’t much reason to build her gaming cred playing these timewasters, and if she actually made an attempt to win them, she’d most likely get yelled at for using telekinesis on the games. It all culminated in one very bored Serena, who was getting desperate for somewhere to vent her frustrations.

The long shack hosting a squirt gun game was going to have to do, mostly due to it having a crucial shade-providing awning. Sitting upon one of the booth’s seats, Serena smirked a bit for the first time that morning; if Sylvie was here, she would have positively adored the game being played. People and pokemon alike attempted to fire a water gun at one of the targets on the board. Successful hits would in turn inflate a balloon near the back of the booth. First one to fill the toy until it popped would net themselves a lovely prize… at least lovely in the context of it being free.

*Well, it’s something to keep me occupied, at least.* Thought Serena, placing her hands on one of the water pistols, *And Sylvie would envy me for playing without her. That’s always a plus.*

“Hey, chick, you’re in my spot.”

The Gardevoir stopped dead in her tracks, turning around to face the new challenger. She had to look way down to see her; turns out it was a Vaporeon that had just chewed her out, one with an impossibly smug look on their face and a backwards red ballcap to match. Serena tried to hide a shudder; somewhere deep inside her, she already knew from the cap alone that she couldn’t handle that much coolness.

“Ya sleepin’ or something?” the vap reiterated. “I want you off that seat.”

“Oh, uh... sure.” Stumbled Serena, shuffling onto the seat besides the two of them. The Vaporeon hopped up with a damp little squish, and shifted to look at the potential opponent. Serena could feel herself being watched with great intent. She couldn’t deny it, she was being sized up.

“Say,” the mystery vap began, “you wouldn’t be up for a round of Target Splash, would you?”

The water-type had asked real sweetly, almost deceptively so. Serena hesitated to answer; her new cohort had all the makings of a regular delinquent, to the point that even as the vap smiled at her all she could feel was unease. Was she really going to accept the challenge?

“Alright!” said the Gardevoir hastily. Screw it, she wasn’t going to spend the rest of the day alone, that’s for sure.

“Fair enough,” said the Vaporeon as turned her ballcap forwards in anticipation. “Prepare to be schooled by Soggy!”

Serena had little time to ruminate on the Vaporeon’s awkward title; Soggy was already calling the booth’s carny over, getting the pair set up with squirt guns and fresh targets.

“Alright, you know the rules,” said the carny, making space between him and the splash zone. “On your marks, get set, go!”

Serena hadn’t even put her finger on the gun’s trigger before she heard a guttural noise coming next to her. Craning her head, she saw a beam of aquamarine energy beginning to form in Soggy’s maw.

“Wait, you can’t do that-” Serena began, but by then it was far too late. A powerful Water Gun exploded out of Soggy’s mouth, launching across the booth and hitting the target in front of the vap with perfect accuracy. The balloon attached to the target began to puff up, filling and filling until-

*POP*

-it split apart at the seams in a little burst of confetti.

“Congratulations,” deadpanned the carny as he handed the victorious Vaporeon a small teddiursa plush. “You’ve won yet again, Soggy.”

*Again?!?* thought Serena. *She’s done this before?*

Judging from the look on Soggy’s face, she had done it enough times to reap the benefits and then some. The eeveelution grasped her prize with her jaws and paws alike, little squishes softly dampening the fabric.

“No fair!” shouted Serena, “you cheated!”

“I didn’t cheat a wink, ya so-called gamer,” replied Soggy. “The game asked for a skilled water gun, and I gave it to em’! Not my fault you can’t even remember to fire!”

With that, Soggy made an exit, muffled laughter emanating through the plush she was carrying through her maw. Serena swore she could hear the siren’s call of “Sucker…” as the vap left the booth, the word daring her to once again get her ass whooped by the cheeky fishdog. The way her emotions were beginning to stew, the Gardevoir probably would’ve gone double or nothing in a heartbeat. She wasn’t just beaten; she was beaten by cheating. As far as Serena was concerned, that made the Vaporeon public enemy number one, and for damn good reason. Gritting her teeth, Serena tried hard to figure out how to get even:

*Come on, Serena, get your head in the game! That no good delinquent can’t pull the Wooloo over you twice, you just gotta figure out how to beat that devastating water gun!*

The thoughts came hard and heavy, each of them being dismissed for a multitude of reasons. Appeal to authority? Nah, the carny clearly didn’t care how Soggy won her stash. Steal the plush for herself? Nah, that wouldn’t count as a win in her heart. Kill her? …Nah, Serena didn’t know how to properly bury a body. Make her own water gun?...

Serena went over the idea in her mind. If she could just pull off a move she couldn’t learn, then she’d manage to stand a chance that the regular peripherals wouldn’t give her. But how would she get the water into her?

Serena looked down at the water pistol she was holding. She then looked back up and around to realize that the booth had once again been deserted by everyone nearby. Even the carny was gone, probably on a smoke break. An awful idea began to sprout in the Gardevoir’s mind, one pushed entirely by revenge.

“Well, Sylvie always did say I could stand to be a little more hydrated…” said Serena to herself as she put the squirt gun’s nozzle in her mouth and fired without a second thought.

The whole thing reminded her of the festivals she’d seen in Alola. There, the crowd would mingle in the fading summer’s heat, eating treats and participating in all sorts of attractions. Now that she was here in Galar, Zoe could only see two differences in the fairground she left alone in. What obviously came first was the temperature drop, but second-most was that this was a place she was actually allowed in.

She’d never have been allowed to go to one of the festivals as a Zorua; the danger of her being caught was too much to bear. Now the Zoroark was an adult, she was caught, and was quite eager to see what she had been denied for all this time. The initial analysis was… underwhelming, to say the least. Zoe was stuck in the middle of the fairground with nary an idea of what to do or if she would even be allowed to do it. The food carts, alluring as they may be, were objects she stayed away from, knowing full well she didn’t have money for it. The only option Zoe had at that point was to keep walking and hope something from the whirlwind of pastel sights and sounds would interest her. Meandering could only get her so far, though, and soon the kitsune began to rely on her other senses.

That’s when she smelled it. The lingering aroma of cheri berry pie, coming from deep within the synthetic canopy. The Zoroark was no stranger to good food (and had quite the chubby build as a result), but this was on another level: it was as if pure sugary goodness had been condensed into a scent, and with her instincts kicking in Zoe found that she needed more of it. She was suddenly nosing her way behind crates and stands, past a sign or two that read ‘EMPLOYEES ONLY’, right up onto the back of an enormous canvas tent. Zoe didn’t attempt to find a proper entrance; she lifted up a faded section of the tarp and slipped under it, undeterred in the slightest in her mission to acquire the pie.

What she found was a lot more than pie. The tent’s canopy held a gigantic stage within its confines, rows of hay bales providing a small crowd the seats to some sort of main event. Zoe’s makeshift opening had placed her right backstage, the stage proper filled with picnic tables and about two dozen pokemon to fill them. All of them looked giddy with anticipation- something was about to happen, and with a hasty decision Zoe decided she wanted in on it.

*I wonder if they’re here for the pie, too…* wondered the Zoroark to herself as she took a seat at the edge of one of the tables, right next to an unassuming Lucario. *Hopefully there’s enough to go around.*

No sooner had she had the thought when a group of servers appeared, this time entering through one of the tent’s actual entrances. The humans brought with them serving carts filled to the brim with pie, not just cheri-flavored, but those flavored with pecans, orans, peanut butter and more. Zoe grew antsy in her seat as she watched them set pie down at each of the tables, placing to her surprise a full pie for each and every one of the Pokemon. By the time the waiters had made it to her, Zoe was throwing up a small illusion to hide her drool- if this was what a carnival was like, then her trainer would have to drag her away by the end of it!

A positively saccharine cheri pie was slammed in front of Zoe on the table, startling the Zoroark. She was hesitant to dig in, seeing that no one else had before her, but she could only ignore her base instincts for so long. Struggling not to bear her fangs, she looked over the tables- no one was eating, was this some kind of joke? Dammit, she couldn’t make a scene if this wasn’t for eating, but how could she ignore that lovely scent?

A booming voice from an overhead loudspeaker broke her already broken concentration:

“Alright, contestants, on your marks, get set, GO!”

Zoe did not need to be told twice. Dragging the pie tin over to her and ripping slice from it, the Zoroark casually devoured the pastry in two large chomps. A second piece met a similar fate, and from there a rhythm was established as red gooey pie filling went through her maw faster than water could. In a mere minute the pie tin was empty, the battle clearly won in Zoe’s favor. The sated fox was just about to leave when a server came up to her and deposited another pie down in front of her, this time one flavored with chocolate filling.

Zoe was starstruck, to say the least. They were just giving her all this food? For free? Was this some kind of mistake? Zoe didn’t care to find out if it was indeed an error; she was being given sweets, and that’s all that mattered. Pulling the pie in front of her maw, the kitsune ignored the slices cut neatly for her in favor of simply bending over and plunging her muzzle directly into the pastry. The cacophony of munching noises that followed was enough to gather the attention of everyone else at the picnic table. Watching her intently, the Lucario next to her decided to tap out.

“Yeah… no way I’m beating her.” He said, dropping his pie and getting up from the table. “See y’all later!”

He wasn’t the only one with the idea. One by one, the pokemon at the table got up and left, massaging their pie-stuffed bellies as they decided they couldn’t eat any more. The culinary onslaught continued regardless; the remaining contestants soldiered on, their stomachs gradually rounding out to contain all the pastry they were forcing down their throats. Zoe didn’t notice the dropouts; in fact, she couldn’t care less about her surroundings as she dipped her muzzle into pie after pie, savoring all sorts of flavors that she’d never ingested before.

*Who knew Chesto berries and Wiki berries went so well together?* she thought as she polished off a seventh pie tin.

By now the remaining contestants were well beyond full; a Lurantis had to waddle away as the sixth-to-last to rise, her belly distended as if it were six months pregnant. A Minccino wasn’t far behind, so stuffed with sweets they practically had to be rolled off the table. With the remaining group having shrunk to just four, it was as if a switch had flipped in the remaining contestants’ brains. The final four were getting through pie slices lethargically, minus Zoe, whose energy was bolstered with every slice she consumed.

Beyond the stage, the crowd watched eagerly to see who would be the last mon standing. Once again the dropouts appeared in pairs: a lycanroc stumbled off with a heavy boulder of a belly weighing him down, while a positively bloated Leavanny followed him just seconds later. It was down to the chubby Zoroark on the left and the even chubbier Ampharos on the right, both of them scarfing pie while only one of them looked particularly into it.  Sixteen pies, seventeen pies… the stack of tins by the two piled high above them as sugary dessert continued to disappear down their throats. For a while it looked as if the two would continue filling to no end…

…And then Ampharos finally gave up. Setting down the second half of her twentieth pie, the sheep-dragon waddled offstage, dejected and with a hell of a tummyache emanating from her beachball-sized middle.

“I’ve never seen a mon eat like me for that long,” she muttered to herself as she rejoined the crowd. “What’s her secret?”

There was no secret, at least at first glance. Zoe just had the endless appetite to spare, especially when sweets were involved. Even now the filled-up fox was licking a pie tin clean, getting impatient with the servants for not delivering another pie directly to her.

*What gives?* she thought. *I didn’t ask for them to stop!*

Zoe waved her arms at a server, expecting to flag them down for yet more pie. What she didn’t expect was the server to take her arm and lift it high into the air, prompting a small roar from the small crowd.

“We have a winner!” cried a voice from the loudspeaker up above, “Meet your new pie-eating contest champion!”

The Zoroark had no idea what was happening; she was just now realizing she was the only one left at the tables, that there was an audience watching her glut herself, that she had even entered a contest.

*An eating contest?* she thought, massaging her own black-furred boulder of a gut. *There’s contests for that sort of thing?*

Evidently there was, and she had just won her first one. A small metal trophy was shoved into the fox’s arms, her jam-covered muzzle awash with confusion and amazement.

The Greedent grinned to himself as he counted up the morning’s cash flow. Business was booming as far as he was concerned, and a good morning run meant that he’d be able to take a guilt-free lunch break. Fishing out a little “gone for now” sign and placing it atop the cart, Greedent checked the balloon stand once more before deciding he was satisfied enough to leave. The jolly rodent was gone in a flash, heading towards the center of the fair in pursuit of something to eat.

This was all a certain mon in a nearby bush needed to see. Branches rustled out of the way for dear life as Sylvie escaped from the foliage, ribbons stiff with anxious energy. She’d been waiting a while for the unassuming carny to leave his post, but now that he was gone the options were limitless. The whole balloon cart, all to herself! Sure, she wasn’t going to be playing with it in a particularly legal manner, but that was just something she could laugh off as a rebuttal for the embarrassment she had faced earlier that day. After all, eye for an eye was circus law (at least according to the particularly vindicative Sylveon).

Sylvie tried to keep a low profile as she meandered over to the cart, her walking speed gradually increasing the closer she got. She couldn’t help herself, not when she was this close to the goal. She checked behind the stand first, running around its front wheels to find a plain looking stool on the other side of it. The Greedent must’ve used it to get up on top of the cart; she would, too, hopping up fast enough to nearly topple it over. The Sylveon looked over the cart’s backside once more from her new vantage point, locating a hatch on the top and swiftly cracking it open with her ribbons. What she saw in the newly made opening delighted her.

“There we go,” said Sylvie with a purr, “Just what the doctor ordered.”

Inside the cart were several helium tanks, their outsides colored a clinical seafoam green and littered with typical warning signs. Lifting one of them was no easy task, but Sylvie summoned all of her strength anyway to get her ribbons to raise a canister for better reading.

“Warning: handle with care,” read the eeveelution aloud, “Oh, I handle these bad boys with care, alright.”

The fairy-type’s chuckling soon turned into a tepid form of maniacal laughter as she sought out a package of regular balloons from within the cart. She’d soon be having a lot of fun with the cans of gas, but that was something she wanted to build up to. For now, she’d start by inflating a balloon or two, and seeing where the buzz she’d acquire would take her.

“Now where should I start?” she asked herself, hesitating not to refer to herself as darling. “Maybe a classic round balloon to start, or maybe one of the ones shaped like a star? Oh, I know, I’ll try one of the ones that are supposed to look like a pikachu! Those are made of some premium-grade stuff and-“

“HEY, GET AWAY FROM THAT!”

Why the Greedent had come back early from his lunch break, Sylvie would never know. What the Sylveon did know was that she suddenly could feel the wrath of one very angry carny beating down on her from fifty feet away, and if she could feel that, then-

“SECURITY!”

-then she’d certainly be soon feeling the wrath of the park’s bouncers raining down on her. Sylvie didn’t hesitate, operating purely on instinct. She grabbed a helium tank by the nozzle and dragged it out with a heavy grunt, letting it clank on the ground so she could catch her breath. Wrapping a ribbon around its circumference, Sylvie turned around and started running at full speed, dragging the canister along with her. Much to the Greedent’s dismay, she was making good time with her deceptive strength.

Serena ripped the nozzle away from her mouth, taking a deep breath as she came back up for air. Simply taking a drink was becoming more of a problem as the morning turned to noon, her ill-fated plan encountering trouble as her body eventually attempted to refuse any more water. It wasn’t just that the Gardevoir’s thirst had been quenched a hundred times over, it was also that she was packing herself quite tightly with liquid; her spirit was willing, but the extended throat workout was making her body so, so very weak.

It was also making her stupendously bloated. The Gardevoir’s flat belly had filled out impressively over the course of an hour, becoming a tight, yoga-sized ball of white flesh that sagged over her seat and down to her knees. The sphere pulsed ever so often with the weight of an hour or two’s worth of stuffing- her stomach’s last futile protests against the stream flowing into it. Even the rest of the psychic-type had subtly swollen as time went on; her limbs were chubby with water weight, her face had grown a little doughier, and her ass had slowly puffed up with the intruding liquid. It all added up to give her the appearance of an overweight mon that spent way too much time at the daycare getting bred, and yet even that wouldn’t be enough for Serena.

Sure, she was full, but she wasn’t pressurized. Serena kneaded the top of her distended stomach in frustration; of course this silly plan wasn’t going to work, she’d need way more pressure within her in order to compete with that bratty vap’s water gun!

“Ugh, me and my stupid impulses…” moaned Serena as she began to rub her belly in tight circles. “How am I going to make a big enough water blast to compete now?”

“…Chick, what are you doing?”

Serena wobbled around in her seat to find Soggy standing behind her, maw agape at the Gardevoir’s engorged transformation.

“You’re huge!” continued the vap, surprised and astonished all the same. “Are you drinking from the water game? Man, I always wanted to do that but was afraid I’d get caught, and here you are taking things to the next level!”

Serena blushed at the odd compliment, suddenly becoming very cognizant at how public her expansion was. She had been lucky that this neck of the circus had been deserted, but facing her opponent in this state was making her a little too self-aware of the absurdity of her actions.

“Well.. gee.. thanks…” the Gardevoir sputtered, arms folded Obstagoon-style over her gut. “I was trying to shoot off a water gun myself, and I guess I got… carried away…” she gestured towards her tummy, which was currently hanging off the seat like a gigantic dewdrop on an equally gigantic leaf.

“I’m flattered!” said Soggy, black eyes sparkling with glee. “But you’re gonna need a lot more aqua than that if you want to really output something to match me!”

“Yeah,” Serena admitted, “this game isn’t really built to blow me up, is it?”

“Sounds like you need some help,” said Soggy, “Quick, spin back around to face the game!”

“What, you’re just going to help me try and beat you?”

“Hell yeah, I want to see where this is going!” cried the Vaporeon, practically pushing Serena’s legs herself as the psychic-type wobbled back around to face the pistols. Soggy, pleased with the Gardevoir’s position, then hopped up onto the seat on the left, and then the counter. She was practically face-to-face with Serena, with only a small sea of white belly separating the two pokemon.

“Get ready, chick, cuz I’m about to make you big.” Exclaimed Soggy, jumping from the counter onto Serena’s belly. Serena gasped, which was all the opening the Vaporeon needed to press her lips to hers. A familiar cerulean glow began to emanate from the vap’s mouth.

Zoe couldn’t possibly have felt more emotions in several minutes if she tried. The pure joy of winning a trophy by doing nothing but eating, the unfathomable surprise of learning that there’d be more eating contests going on all day long… and the crushing defeat of being politely informed the minute she tried taking another seat that she couldn’t enter more than one contest. It was a rule put into place to prevent a certain Snorlax-related situation from occurring again and was considered a rather necessary protocol by everyone who had attended the circus a year prior. Zoe did not share that view at all, her taut stomach rumbling as she smelled yet more food being delivered into the big top.

In that moment, the Zoroark did the only thing she felt she could do: lie. Thinking quickly, the fox exited quietly and ducked behind a stack of crates. One flash of cyan light later, and a particularly emaciated-looking Garchomp stepped out. If the illusion succeeded, she’d be running a total grift against the circus itself; Zoe thought very carefully about the potential consequences of her actions as she reapproached the stage… and went ahead with it all anyway.

What followed was a particularly vicious cycle for Zoe’s waistline. Eat, Illusion, Repeat- Zoe braved the culinary onslaught time and time again, outlasting opponents through sheer gluttony, and being declared the winner by a landslide as they’d eventually just have not a crumb left to let her wolf down. Sure, it was getting harder for her to switch illusions during the downtime, but as long as she assumed a different guise each time, she’d bully her way onto that stage and eventually add to her growing pile of hidden trophies.

All that food added up. Hot dogs, popcorn, fried twinkies and cookies- Zoe was putting away enough to feed twenty people per contest, and beneath the illusion her stomach was sinking lower and lower with every bite. The calories didn’t stay put inside her gullet, either; her thighs were beginning to rub together, as were her arms against her chest. Zoe was getting caked with flab, but those blatant warning signs sure as hell weren’t enough to stop her from gorging herself further.

“I do believe we have another winner!” came the voice from the loudspeaker up above. Getting crowned a temporary champion was just another process for Zoe at this point, one she was happy to engage in. This time she had maintained the form of a Goodra, the illusionary slug’s prominent gut now swaying about half as much as the real thing. It was quite the large form for Zoe to keep up, but it was probably the only one that would properly hide her ballooning bulk. That was the main kink in the plan that appeared; that as she grew, Zoe was running out of Pokemon to hide behind.

*Eh, whatever,* thought Zoe about the potential vulnerability. *No way am I letting this gravy train fail on me!*

Zoe tried to stand up to accept the new trophy, only to have considerable difficulty under the mask. The sheer weight of the buffet she’d consumed was starting to strain on her; the Zoroark thought hard for a quick solution. More illusions would have to do; Zoe pantomimed further, pretending to show her Goodra-self out, even going so far as going behind the crates before flashing again to a slightly bigger mon’s shape. In reality, she was invisible, sitting her growing ass down in the back of the stage. The perfect crime had become even perfecter: as long as she kept the ruse going from a distance, she could just kick back and let the food (And the trophies) come to her.

The chase was afoot, and neither side was having a particularly fun time with it. Sylvie may have disappeared seamlessly into the crowds, but the payload she was dragging alongside her was keen to remind her that it was a very, very heavy weight. Crucial minutes ticked by, and with it shrank the Sylveon’s lead on her assailants. If Sylvie wasn’t resourceful, then no doubt would the Machoke have caught her a second time, throwing her back out with all the other riffraff.

But Sylvie was quite resourceful. It was costing her a full-body workout, but eventually the helium tank’s tracks in the dirt began to vanish as she opted to lift the entire canister onto her back. Normally a weight like that would have practically crushed her, but the situation was far different from normal. This was helium gas, and the fairy-type wasn’t going to give up an opportunity for the world. Thus, the petite pokemon dived, ducked, and dipped with surreal grace as she summoned all of her strength to continue forward.

“*Huff* I’d like to see those… *Huff* …those authoritarians try to stop me now!” huffed Sylvie, her paws swerving her deeper and deeper into the theme park. The tents had ended by this point, with large wooden structures indicating that she’d found herself below the thrill rides. Her ears perked to listen for the security team behind her, Sylvie instead heard the lush sounds of a roller coaster speeding past high above her.

“Hmmph, no matter.” Said the Sylveon, more frustrated than she wanted to admit at the noise deterring her senses. “I’ll outrun them all in no time at all!”

Was she going to, though? She was running out of room to maneuver; the edges of the carnival were coming up, edges that were surrounded by hastily constructed fences. Sure, the wooden rows could possibly come down with a well-placed kick, but that didn’t account for the precious cargo she’d be carrying at all times. Nowhere in her crude plan did she mean to just drop the tanker; no, parting with the canister was out of the question. Sylvie loved it too much to bear time apart!

She was rapidly running out of options, either way. She could see the insurmountable fence in the distance, hear the sounds of Machoke footsteps deep behind her. To her sides were forgotten stands she couldn’t just run past; she was caged without a doubt.

“Grrrrrrr, think Sylvie!” she said out loud to herself. “You can’t just be surrounded on all sides like this!”

Sylvie racked her brain hard, weighing whatever plans she had left. She couldn’t go through because she was already over-encumbered enough. She couldn’t go down because Sylveon can’t learn Dig, and she can’t go up because-

The Sylveon stared off into space for a hot minute before a smirk graced her muzzle. On second thought, she totally could go up. She just needed to get herself into position…

Sylvie threw the helium tank onto the ground with a dull thud. Wrapping a ribbon around the spigot, she cranked the nozzle as far it would go.

“Those bozos won’t catch me when I’m fifty feet in the air.” Mused Sylvie, right before positioning herself right above the tank’s nozzle. The nozzle in question was currently spewing gas something fierce, the flow barely visible as it began to roar out of the canister. Smirk becoming a full grin, Sylvie plopped right down onto the nozzle, squatting with full force as she spread her cheeks. A resounding *THUMP* signifying that yes, the nozzle was well and firmly crammed up her lily-white ass. Sylvie moaned as she felt the first spurts of gas travel up her bum; the start was always the most riveting for her.

Helium was piling into her now, no doubt about it. Within seconds, Sylvie felt full up with liters of gas. Her stomach gave a lurch, and then another; no longer flat, her belly began to expand out as easily as a rubber balloon, growing into her lap and spreading her hind legs wide. Sylvie was bloating proudly by this point, her gut swelling to the size of a basketball, then a beachball, and even further beyond, making the rest of the eeveelution look positively puny by comparison.

“Ah, the wonderful feeling of filling~ ” cooed the fairy-type as she expanded. “I was going to save myself for last, but what can I say? My paw was forced!”

Sylvie’s paws were forced, alright. They were currently forced directly on top of her expanding guts, kneading and slapping her bloated belly while her ribbons pressed down gently on the distended flesh. She was treating her own hide like a stress ball, moaning all the way as she explored all of her new growth. It was almost a distraction from the sensation of the rest of her body thickening up, her limbs plumping up with gaseous fat while her rear stored helium away at a burgeoning rate. Her body was positively obese with helium by this point; every little nook and cranny was filling several times over with gas, gas that wanted nothing more than to be let out.

The gas wouldn’t be afforded that luxury. Sylvie continued to round out, the rest of her matching her belly in size before inflating as one giant Sylveon balloon. With her limbs sinking into surrounding divots of flesh, she was more of an orb than a pokemon, her ribbons the last holdouts from the full-on wave of swelling that had enveloped her.

By now, security had made it to the clearing that Sylvie was conducting her little plot in. The other pokemon were stunned as they entered, standing astonished at the sight of the fairy blimp that was planning to take off right where she sat.

“Yes, be amazed!” shouted the 6-foot-wide ball of Sylvie in an unnaturally pitched voice. “You thought you could outsmart our love, but true love is beyond unstoppable!”

With that (and a little pft, to boot), Sylvie rose off the helium canister, slowly floating upwards as all the helium in her body pushed her up, and up, and up. The pokemon was rising gradually, picking up speed and flying along with the wind. Sylvie loved being airborne, especially when it served as a means of escape; so she flew, far above the stands, far above the tents, far above the-

**BONK**

-Okay, not far above the roller coaster. Sylvie had only made it about halfway up the wooden structure when she collided with the slats holding it together. She moved oddly as she glided up it, trundling down until finally becoming wedged in one of the wooden holes that crisscrossed it’s length. Sylvie waggled her limbs helplessly; her flight was very much grounded.

“Hey, are there any flying-types working a shift today?” asked a security member back on the ground. “We might need to get one of them in on a pickup job…”

"And that should just about do it! How do you feel?"

Soggy's words fell on deaf ears. Sure, Serena technically processed the information as it went past her, but the overwhelming sensation that by now encompassed her entirety had caused the words to fizzle out of her mind as quickly as they entered. It was easy to say that she simply had no room for even a thought more, but that wasn't true; the Gardevoir's mind was focused, alright, just almost entirely on keeping herself together.

Consecutive water gun kisses to the face had done a number on the psychic-type's figure, inflating and bloating her body far better than a simple hose ever could. Not content to stay within her belly, the water energy sought all sorts of avenues to explore, piling into her arms, legs, and torso with all the grace of a draining whirlpool. In short, Serena had become quite round. In *long*, Serena had swollen out into a white-and-green ball that was just as wide as she was tall, waterlogged to the point that she easily took up five seats at the carnival booth. The seats in question had long since been flattened into the dirt, squished as easily as if an Italian plumber had ground-pounded them down. It couldn't be helped, not when Serena was carrying about a metric ton's worth of aquatic payload inside of her. The pond she inhaled sloshed and churned within her gullet, threatening to tear her apart if she so much as blinked the wrong way. Desperately the Gardevoir held on despite that, her hands balled up into fists deep inside the domes of her drum-tights limbs.

"Are you listening?" shouted Soggy, "I *said*, how do you feel?"

"L-L-Like I drunk down Lake Miloch..." sputtered the Garde-orb, her rotund cheeks barely moving against the curves of her breasts right below them. It was hard to tell if Serena's breasts counted as Z-cups or not; they definitely had the surface area to qualify, but her tits were more like two extensions of her spherical form than honest boobs. Perhaps defining them as "water balloons attached to her chest" was more apt.

"Perfect!" said Soggy, mildly oblivious to Serena's state of mind. "Judging by those sounds coming from your gut, you'll be able to land any water-type move you want if you put your mind to it. I'll go call over the carny, and then we can see my handiwork in action!"

It took a short while for the Vaporeon to find the guy who'd manned the stand earlier. Turns out the carny had left to watch the nearby eating contests, which were unusually one-sided this year, and thus surprisingly entertaining. Despite being so far away from his booth, Soggy found him with ease; an obscured location was no match for the senses of an eeveelution with an axe to grind. And so, the carny followed the particularly yappy pokemon back to the midway, only to discover a linen-white ball of Gardevoir occupying most of the booth. If the man was amazed, he didn't show it: he just rolled his eyes, muttered something about 'oversized Electrodes', and started setting the game back up.

Targets and prizes alike lit up as the electricity surged back into the midway game. Narrowing her eyes, Soggy turned to Serena and started to give her a pep talk.

"Alright, chick, you just need to shoot your shot good enough to fill the balloon. Think you can do that?"

"Uh..." Serena tried to think if she could do that, only to get her life flashing before her eyes instead. "I think so..."

Nevertheless, the intensely filled balloon attempted to push her muscles in an upward direction anyway. The win was just within reach, she just had to force herself to somehow output water instead of swallowing it for once. Serena's mind went somewhat numb as she strained everything she had, working herself and accomplishing nothing...

...And then, all at once, she accomplished everything. A low hum began to buzz in her ears as the sounds of water flowing within her began to reverse. Suddenly, she could feel fluid building up in her throat, a lot of fluid, in fact. Serena's cheeks began to bulge out with energy as a deep cerulean glow reverberated from her neck.

*Come on, Serena, you can win this!* thought the psychic-type as a geyser went off inside her middle. *Show that blue rat who's the real champ of the midway!*

Serena opened her mouth, only for a thundering Hydro Pump to come out of it. Carny and Vaporeon alike dodged out of the way, the attack sailing past them to slam directly into one of the targets. That piece of wood wouldn't know what hit it; its poor demise was instantaneous, the board splintered into pieces that were then carried far into the back of the booth. The attack was like a power washer stuck on max setting, and to make matters worse it just kept going. The back of the stand would fare slightly better than the target, but only slightly. The sounds of cracking lumber filled the air as the back wall of the booth simply failed to exist, exploding into pieces as the Hydro Pump jetted through it like wrapping paper. Thankfully, there wasn't much left for the spout to hit; the next wall it would hit was a chain-link fence, which warped but did not break against the almighty attack.

Which was a lot better status report for the fence than it was for the booth. The entire section of the midway was flooded with water energy, prizes soaked and structure broken. It was a small miracle that the place was still standing, but then again if the roof came down it probably could've been supported by Serena. The Gardevoir still had a great deal of water left in her tanker when the Hydro Pump died down, and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that she was probably still immobilized by her sheer load-bearing girth.

There was one change to her demeanor, though. Serena's head was a just a tad bit clearer now that her overall fullness had moved a smidge... in fact, it was clear enough that she could recognize what she'd done.

"Oh, I r-really, um, won hard, didn't I?" stuttered the overfilled psychic. "Sorry about the wall... I, um, don't know what came over me..."

"Security!" yelled the carny, "Get this property destroyer out of here!"

"W-wait, we don't have to do this! Soggy, come on, please explain-"

Serena craned her neck to look for Soggy, only to discover that the Vaporeon was nowhere in sight. The eeveelution had long since run off, with not even a trace of their cool hat to be found. Which of course meant that only one Pokemon was going to be punished...

It was getting harder to move. At first, Zoe just shrugged it off; after all, she was already used to the dwindling capabilities of her legs as she grew. But now her arms were joining in on the fun. They had become sluggish, no doubt due to the layers of flab the Pokemon was putting on as her body crunched to digest the endless buffet going down her throat. The simple act of getting food was hitting a breaking point for the Zoroark: if she wanted to win this last eating competition, she was really going to have to reach for it.

That is, if she could still even reach past her gut. Zoe wasn't dumb, she knew her belly had distended out to a comical degree; her illusions were in fact subtly manipulating the space of the table to ensure that the waitstaff would be placing plates as close to her as possible. But even that was beginning to fail her. Her sausage arms were beginning to press into the curves of her stomach as it stretched to fill as much of her immediate view as possible; to make matters worse, she couldn't just push into it. Her belly had casually slid across the scale from stuffed to packed to absolutely drum-taut, a level of fullness that no number of ill-timed burps could dislodge. Ultimately, it was like she was feeling up a black furry boulder deep underneath the ruse, one that made its weight known from how it squished the wooden table underneath.

And that led Zoe to this moment, where she was stuck trying all too hard to move a simple burger closer to herself, ignoring the positively squealing tension of the bench underneath her and the equally groaning cries of the counter that was also underneath her (quite a lot was secretly underneath her by this point). The Zoroark rocked back and forth as she attempted again and again to scrounge up the movement necessary to get to the dish, only to come up short each time, her blows cushioned by hidden fluff. Out of sheer habit, she began to sign a cuss out, only to stop midway through to conserve her energy.

*Oh come on,* she thought to herself, *I told myself I wasn't going to drop a single win today. I'm not going to quit just before the finish line!*

So her frustrations grew to match her considerable waistline. Zoe leaned further and further into her grasps, failing harder each time in her quest to grab that infernal burger. Anger hitting a boiling point, the Zoroark called forth her power to do something she thought she wouldn't have to do again: rise from her seat. Doughy legs trembling, Zoe rose forward, the bench underneath her practically gasping for air as the wide load lifted off it. Leaning her tremendous body over, the pokemon could feel her speed increasing far too fast for her own good. It mattered not to her; what she wanted was that goddamn burger, and she was going to get it if was the last thing she did.

It turned out to instead be the last thing the table ever did. Zoe was already through with the sandwich when she was interrupted by the horrifying sound of splintering wood. With all her mass atop the table, it was all far, *far* too much Zoe for the piece of furniture to handle, the material responding the only way it knew how: breaking apart like it was made of premium balsa. A handful of bloated pokemon scrambled out of the way as the seating suddenly gave way, wood practically mulching to bits as *something* huge and dark slammed down to crush it with the force of god.

The sudden shock of falling had caused Zoe to drop her illusion. No longer did the crowd see what at the time was a particularly portly Goodra; what was in her place now was a veritable mountain of black fur. The day's spoils had draped well across Zoe's frame; she had become a food balloon, with just about every one of her features growing puffed and stuffed with fat. The Zoroark could only begin to waddle her useless limbs as she tried to right herself, a challenge that was as futile as it was embarrassing. Her entirety refused to yield; for all intents and purposes, Zoe had become the main attraction as she sat marooned on top of her belly.

"Hey," cried someone from the transfixed crowd, "That Snorlax stole all the trophies!"

Ah yes, the trophies. They were piling up by Zoe's side all day long, and now there they were besides her, clear evidence to everyone that something had gone very terribly wrong during the screening process. The trophy hoarder herself was now very terrified that she had been found out, anxiety and embarrassment mixing to form a last-ditch effort that was almost entirely powered by spite. Raising her muzzle towards the ceiling, Zoe charged up a distraction...

...only for nothing to come out. What she was looking for was an almighty Flamethrower that would surely have caused the crowd and staff alike to disperse. What the Zoroark *got* was an odd pressure in her throat, one that didn't seem to go away. Confused, Zoe tried again and again to activate her flames, only for the pressure to build and build inside of her until-

**UUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!**

The almighty belch had surely stunned the crowd, alright, but it did little to stop the waitstaff, who by this point were well and truly livid.

"Someone get security and have them throw this Zor-lax out!" called out one of the waiters.

There was a real swing in Steph’s step as she exited yet another roller coaster that morning. After all, why wouldn’t she; the rides at the carnival were some of the most fun a trainer could have without their pokemon. It was all quite enjoyable for Steph to partake in, but as the hours wore on and the sun made its way to the middle of the sky the trainer couldn’t help but feel an incessant urge to get back to her group and have some fun together.

*Phew, that was good and all, * thought Steph, *but I’m really starting to miss my little bastards. Hopefully they’ve been staying out of trouble while I was gone…*

Steph’s ruminations were halted as she came across a small crowd of workers and their pokemon, all of whom were dressed in plain looking yellow vests that said ‘Security’. They were all chattering to themselves, looking upwards toward the roller coaster. Were they working on the coaster she had just left? Steph didn’t know, and that just interested her further into the commotion.

“Hey fellows, what’s going on here?” asked Steph to one of the team members.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” replied the security guard. “Just a little situation. Please move along.”

Steph felt no urge to keep moving. “Well, if the coaster’s unstable I’d like to be the first to know. After all, I’d have no idea why else you’d be looking up towards it so much- “

The trainer’s words died in her throat as she herself finally took a look up towards the high arching slats of the roller coaster’s frame. Nestled right in the middle of one of the highest divots appeared to be a snow-white ball, one that earnestly quivered in the noon sunlight. Several Tranquil were tasked with removing the sphere from its wooden confines, a task they were not progressing in the slightest due to the fact that any attempt to touch the big ball would get them slapped by the sphere’s ribbons.

*Ribbons? * thought Steph, her jaw agape at what she was looking at. *Oh no, not again, not on my day off…*

Steph looked back down to the ground, trying very hard not to look in any way responsible for what she was seeing. The second her eyes adjusted to ground level, though, she saw even more to be horrified at. More security members were coming, with two Machoke pushing another much heavier white orb in the back of the group. This ivory sphere moved haphazardly as it was rolled, almost as if it was filled with liquid rather than being uniformly solid throughout.

“Yeah, we got another troublemaker…” called out one of the security guards in front.

“You, too?” said yet another guard, pointing ahead. “Just put her with the black one. We’ll deal with all of them later.”

Steph didn’t *want* to look ahead, but she followed the pointing motion of the guard anyway. Over there, almost surrounded by guards was an onyx ball of a Pokemon, one that looked far, *far* heavier than the first two spheres. It rustled embarrassingly every few seconds, as if the sphere knew exactly that it really shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

“Goddammit, how did all three of them mess up so badly?” said Steph under her breath. It evidently was said a bit too loud for her liking, as she accidentally got the attention of the guard she was talking to.

“Ma’am,” said the security guard, “You wouldn’t happen to know who these Pokemon are, would you?”

“Um, maybe?”

“Ma’am, I’m gonna have to ask you to come with me…”

Steph groaned, groaned some more, put her head in her hands and mouthed off just about every cuss word she could think of. It had only been three hours, hadn’t it?

“Step right up, folks, and you yourself can find your very own chance to Dunk the Troublemakers!”

Steph put a lot of effort into coming off sincere, even if she certainly had no reason to feel positive about her current situation. Here she was, a well-respected Pokemon trainer, reduced to being a carny for the rest of the day! She guessed it was better than being hit with fines, though not by much. Well, at least she was in a better spot than her Pokemon…

The dunk tanks were lined up in a row for each of the mons, each one of them just barely squeezing them in behind their respective cages. The tanks were labelled, though not by their names; Sylvie’s read “THIEF”, Serena’s read “VANDAL”, and Zoe’s read “CHEATER”. It was already a humiliating setup to be a part of, though to make matters even worse for the poor bastards, they weren’t properly deflated beforehand. Three squishy poke-spheres sat upon the seats in the dunk tanks, all of them tense and blushing as the crowd around them gawked at them.

“How long do we have to do this for?” cried Sylvie in her pokespeak. “I feel like a stadium jumbotron the way these people are staring at me!”

“Maybe you should have thought about that before you turned yourself into a flying blimp,” said Serena back to the eeveelution.

“Maybe you should have thought about that before you did the same to yourself!” yelled back Sylvie.

The two pokemon carried on bickering as a line began to form in front of Steph. People and Pokemon alike were ready to start dunking the minor criminals, the most eager of which was a little Vaporeon in a ballcap that stood at the front of the line. Paying for a ticket, the vap took a pawful of baseballs and set her sights on Serena’s tank.

“Hi, Serena!” hollered Soggy, catching all three pokemon off guard (well, maybe not Zoe. She had by this point long since slipped into a food coma). “Cool to see you’re moving on up in the world, from playing midway games to *being* a midway game!”.

“Soggy, wait- ” said Serena, but by then it was already too late. Soggy had neglected the balls entirely, charging up a brackish Water Gun attack within her mouth. Water sailed across the pitch onto a target on the middle of the Gardevoir’s tank, sounding a buzzer and dunking her easily into the water below her…

…Which is what would’ve happened if she wasn’t currently a big fat sphere. Instead, she slid an inch downward and stopped, clearly wedged into a pool that wasn’t designed with orbs in mind.

“Hah, good going Serena!” said Sylvie, before a jet of water instantly hit her own tank’s target. Instead of falling down, Sylvie rose up through a modified hole in her dunk tank, helium carrying her about ten feet up in the air before a rope she was tied to forced her into place. There in the sky, just about everyone could see the little “WINNER” painted across the curve of her butt.

“Ugh…” moaned Sylvie over the cheers and laughter of the crowd surrounding them. This was going to be a long afternoon.