Super Size story

McGuffin’s had a reputation for being not just the biggest, but also the most unhealthy restaurant in the country. Sort of a poor man’s burger joint, they had been the butt of countless jokes, dozens of lawsuits, and more than a few exposés hell bent on showing off how truly heart attack inducing their food could be. This put the restaurant chain in the awkward position of needing to spin their image somehow, which proved to be easier said than done. So rather than fighting their stigma they instead used their PR team to embrace their role in the food world. Fast, tasty food that wouldn’t leave a dent in one’s pocket would always be for sale at McGuffin’s. The company just needed a way to label their most fattening foods to avoid liability in the future.

And that’s when someone decided to pull out a secret recipe from Research and Development. The Super Size menu was born, and the world would be turned upside down.

---

“Aww sweet, another two Super Sizes,” Ralph said, his tail swishing in excitement. The twenty-something raccoon wiped the sweat from his brow and grinned gleefully as he pulled out a freshly made basket of fries from a vat of hot oil. He carefully read the new order and scooted off to begin prepping once satisfied.

Most furs would consider a job working in fast food to be a death sentence, a punishment fit only for those with no future or maybe students who couldn’t hold down a real job yet. But for Ralph, working in a restaurant had always been his goal; fast food was just the start of his journey. He’d grown up on greasy food like this since he was a kit, falling in love with terribly greasy food from the very first bite (and it showed on his waist line). Over time his pallet had matured to appreciate finer foods as well, but unhealthy food from his beloved McGuffin’s always kept a special place in his heart and stomach.

He sighed over the sound of sizzling burgers on his grill. Someday he would leave the fast food business and become a chef on his own... but not today. Today was way too busy to consider that. The Super Size meal was on its test run, the only city in the country honored to test it out. It hadn’t seemed very popular so far. This was only the second order for it today. The raccoon whistled to himself and looked around the kitchen to make sure no one was paying attention. Then quick as he could, he snagged a french fry and ate it.

Ralph was fine with any of the Super Size orders he got, because each was a chance for him to nibble another leftover fry, or chew on a slightly overdone burger. For the betterment of his cooking abilities, is what he always told himself. If he didn’t enjoy the taste, how could the customers be expected to? Plus with the sluggish sales, corporate would probably be glad to see a few extra burgers being eaten right? Normally Ralph was extra careful to not over indulge at work, but today that rule was thrown completely out the window. It was that new sauce that really made the burgers tasty... Ralph couldn’t quite pin down what ingredients were used in it. Chili powder? Onions? Maybe some cinnamon? Whatever it was gave the burger a special kick, and made it extra addictive to the pudgy raccoon’s taste buds.

It was nice to see the Super Size burger getting a little attention from someone. After that very first encounter with a customer ordering it, any excitement for the Super Size menu items had vanished.

---

A spritely otter in a green t-shirt and jeans bounced up and down outside the McGuffin’s to burn off extra energy. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon to greet the otter, partially obscured by the city’s high rises. It signaled the start of a new day. An important day. A very big day for Michael.

Michael was an easily excited fur, with many passions in life and not nearly enough time to spend on them all. One day he was a musician, the next a graphic designer, yet another a stamp collector, and eventually coming back to his job as an accountant. But he had plenty of energy to devote to all his interests. His friends often referred to him as hyperactive, and Michael would be hard pressed to disagree. Especially on a day like today, which was really getting him worked up and excited.

His favorite fast food restaurant in town was opening up with a new menu item today. McGuffin’s kept their new food offerings under tight wraps before the day of the reveal, but Michael was not an easily deterred otter. A couple specific Google searches and some inquiries to message boards led to the discovery of its name: the Super Size. And it wasn’t just a single item. An entire new menu was rolling out for testing! Saying it aloud rolled easily off the tongue, and he hoped to be the first to ever get the chance to try it. So far that seemed likely. He couldn’t see anyone else around the store, not even any of the workers. McGuffin’s was closed but he would wait as long as it took.

Michael waited as patiently as a hyper otter could manage, until finally the manager of the restaurant appeared from inside the store, turned the sign from closed to open, and unlocked the door. He had to fight the urge to push his way past the middle aged cougar; he might have been excited, but he wasn’t mean or rude.

Half the lights inside still hadn’t been totally turned on, but the glow from the cash registers was enough to serve as Michael’s guide. He walked up and flashed a smile at the vixen behind the counter. “Hey there! Can I get a Super Size meal please? No adjustments, no substitutions, just exactly the way it’s supposed to be made,” Michael practically chirped. He whistled and bounced and wiggled around as if everything in the world would be perfect once he got that burger to himself.

Ten minutes later and the otter returned to his blue sedan with a grease soaked paper bag. This was something to be enjoyed on his own, with no one around to judge him. The otter took one tentative bite and chewed slowly to savor the cheese and sauce and meat and bun and everything else that made it taste absolutely delicious. The Super Size meal was fantastically delicious, just as the online advertisements had suggested it would be. It only lasted for five delectable minutes, but each one was filled with delectable delight. Michael burped contentedly and sighed.

Work started in 30 minutes, so Michael couldn’t relish the feeling for much longer. He snapped his seatbelt on and started the car. It was really a hassle trying to drive the thing since it was meant for larger species. He stretched his leg out to reach the brake pedal as he came up to a stop light. It was a daily chore to get the car to function just the way Michael wanted it to.

“Oh screw you car makers, putting the pedals so far away... wish I was just a little bigger to reach them more easily,” he said through clenched jaws. When Michael stepped on the gas to start the car moving again, he noticed something strange. It didn’t require any real stretching now. In fact, it seemed like it was much easier to look over the dashboard as he sat up straight in the sedan now. His wish made out of annoyance had come true somehow.

Testing the waters, Michael whispered, “I wish I had... a huge plate of cooked salmon filets to chow down on?” The universe collectively shrugged, and Michael’s car remained devoid of fishy treats. He did, however, spurt up a couple inches in size again. He wasn’t unhappy though, even if he didn’t quite get what he wished for. A few more inches of height wasn’t unwelcome to the normally undersized otter.

“I wish the pedals were further away again,” he said this time, assuming he could just control his height that way. The pedals did exactly the opposite though as he grew a half foot taller in an instant. It seemed that any wish at all would lead to growth.

That was just big enough for Michael, now that his ears were touching the top of his car. “I wish I would stop growing. Err, wait! No I take that back, that’ll just make me bigger.” In response, another half foot rushed onto his frame.

“I wish I was back to normal size.” Another half foot.

“I wish I had never wished at all.” A full foot now. He squirmed in his seat to get comfy, avoiding pressing his foot on both the gas and brake together

“Please just stop already, I’m getting really cramped here.” One more foot of otter height.

“Oh come on, I didn’t even wish that time!” he exclaimed as his legs bunched up toward his chest and he hunched over to avoid hitting the ceiling anymore. His tail snaked through the back seats like a serpent that continued getting longer and longer. He could barely fit inside the sedan; that wasn’t going to last long though and Michael knew it.

Michael drove as fast as he could to get home before ruining his car. Screw work, something weird was happening and he didn’t want to lose his wheels. The frame creaked as even more mass filled it, shaking back and forth as the otter tried to find a comfortable way to sit and drive. It was no use though. Soon the entire car was filled with brown fur, his bulging form pressed against the windows; the glass creaked and bowed outward. Then it began to spill out of the windows. His tail shattered the back window and the wheels popped. As the fuzzy car came to a stop in the middle of the road, some of the following vehicles swerved to get around, but found their path blocked by a tail. And then shortly after that, a pair of legs too as they burst from the front.

“Ouch!” Michael yelled as the top of his car ripped off. He was finally free to stretch though at least, and stretch he did. Already up to 20 feet tall and still growing, the sedan groaned in protest as he completely filled the car with otter butt. He meeped in surprise as the car suddenly gave way, flattening the frame like a pancake as his rump met the pavement.

That short 20 feet didn’t stay so short for long, as the growth continued for the otter. His legs stretched out across the road, filling up both lanes, knocking away parked cars and uprooting bus stops. The windows on the buildings rushed down lower and lower. With a glance to the side, Michael could see workers inside those offices all looking out at him gaping in astonishment. It was an interesting feeling having all those faces focused on him. His tail wagged slightly in enjoyment of all the attention, slamming into the foundation of a building and knocking out some window panes.

His growth didn’t stop until he had reached 100 feet tall, his tail wrapping around a building to his right and his feet pushing up against a skyscraper in front. Half the street was no longer drivable, not covered by pavement but instead by brown fur and muscle. He looked down to the sidewalks and saw all the tiny people staring at him.

Huh. Well that was a strange experience.

Michael wasn’t one for stressing over situations like this though. He stood up and compared himself in size to a nearby office building, grinning at the windows as he noticed his body was just as good looking as normal. He would’ve continued his admiration, but suddenly a pickup truck full of fish sped by. It had been on its way to market just moments earlier, but once the driver saw the triple digit height otter he decided it would be in his best interest to turn around and go the other way.

But Michael saw those fish. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happened next. Cars and buildings shook at their foundation as he thundered after that truck of fish, squeaking and giggling happily the entire time.

“This is awesome! Now come back here, I’m really hungry and you look delicious.”

---

Finishing up the two Super Size burgers that had just been ordered, Ralph bagged them with some fries and brought it up to the counter. “Order up! Two Super Size Meals with pickles on the side!”

A gruff looking bear in a polo shirt and khakis nodded and took the bag. Ralph grinned and wished him a good day, but the bear didn’t respond. In fact, that was normal for Barry. But no one would really say that to his face. He quietly walked back to the car, lost in his own thoughts.

Another diet ruined, this time by McGuffin’s. This cycle of starting and stopping diets really needed to come to an end, sooner rather than later hopefully. It was common knowledge that bears were bigger than most furs, but that didn’t stop Barry from wishing he was a little trimmer. But month after month it was the same old story of ruining diets like this.

Hopefully this new promotion from the restaurant would be worth it at least. Barry drove his car home slowly, cautiously, and munched on a couple fries on his way. The bear hummed appreciatively at the taste; definitely worth cheating on the diet. The radio sang melodious ballads to the bear as he drove, distracting him from any small changes in height the french fries were inducing.

The radio was just beginning to tell a story about a giant creature downtown when Barry turned the car off. Home sweet home. The tiny, white paneled house looked just the same as every other house on the streets of the suburb where he lived, but he’d been living there long enough to know just which was his.

Barry walked in and looked around tentatively. No one else was home it seemed... no one to berate him for breaking the diet. Confident now, he strolled inside and went straight to his computer to begin the day’s work. Lines of software code were left on the screen from last night, and Barry sighed as he flopped onto his plush leather chair. With a crack of his knuckles, he got right to work where he left off.

As the bear settled into his routine, he began to idly munch away at the Super Size burger and fries. That was the nice part about working from home, being able to eat at his work station without anyone bugging him to keep his desk clean or stop chewing so loudly. He was a solitary person by nature, partly from shyness and partly by choice. Good thing his roommates understood that and didn’t give him too much of a hard time; though lately they had been pretty insistent on his finding a guy or girl to go out with, much to his annoyance.

He barely even noticed when his meal was gone, since it only took a few minutes to finish. He reached over to grab another burger only to find empty wrappers. Giving up a diet had never felt so good. Barry felt like he was brimming with energy after eating, finishing line after line of code as if it were no big deal in the slightest. He still hadn’t noticed just what that energy was doing to his body though, as his clothes got tighter on his arms and thighs.

Eventually he reached the breaking point though, as the seams on his clothes began to tear apart. Barry growled in frustration at the distraction. Maybe this was a good stopping point. His fingers had been not as dexterous as normal, accidentally hitting more than one key with nearly every stroke now as though his fingers couldn’t help but hit two at a time.

Just as he started getting up though, the chair Barry was sitting in gave protested and broke apart.

As he tried to stand to his feet, his rounded ears brushed against the ceiling before he could even straighten his back. Rather than destroy his house, the growing brown bear remained on his hands and knees. Though at this rate, their safety deposit was definitely going to be forfeit to the landlord.

The ceiling of the room touched his back, and Barry felt a twinge of regret at spending all that time reinforcing the second story floor. Bursting through to the second story was painful and cramped, not at all an enjoyable experience. A bed sat on top of the expanding brown bear’s head as his limbs pushed through walls on the first floor. Lamps and chairs and electronics and all manner of other furniture was flung out of the way. His head bumped on the second story ceiling now. The house was more bear than home now with nowhere left for him to grow.

Well crap, this wasn’t how the day was supposed to go. At least his roommates weren’t around to see this.

As if on cue from some horrible sitcom, a minivan carrying three other furs rolled into the driveway. They opened the garage door and noticed it was full of something that definitely wasn’t a car. The thing filling their garage instead resembled an enormous, brown paw. That paw, being attached to a leg that was still currently growing, shot outward as Barry let his leg stretch out and relax rather than being pent up inside the house. The minivan was knocked back into the street, thankfully with little damage.

A brown mountain of fur rose from inside the building as the walls wobbled outward like a terribly put together gingerbread house. None of the furs could believe their eyes; it was too surreal a possibility to consider. They could tell the fur that had just demolished their home was Barry, but how could he have gotten that enormous? He was still getting larger as they stared, now wedged between the two neighboring houses.

He struggled and wiggled to get himself unstuck from between his neighbors, but his rear end was now jammed between them too tightly to move. Barry laid his arms across the roofs of both of the houses as he continued his growth, resigning himself to his fate. Hopefully the force of his growth would get him loose as the houses cracked at the seams.

“Hey guys. Someone wanna call the cops? And insurance too. Dunno if this is covered. Gimme some clothes too somehow. Please?” Barry grumbled. “What an awful way to end a diet.”

---

“Oh noooo, looks like I overdid these fries. Definitely can’t sell these to the customers,” Ralph said overdramatically, dipping some fries in the Super Size sauce and chomping down. His tail flicked back and forth happily as he munched. If this Super Size meal was made part of the general menu, his time working at McGuffin’s would be that much sweeter from then on. It might even be a good enough reason for him to work more hours here than he already did; the food was just that good with the sauce.

The raccoon checked the order tracking screen in front of him, and saw another one jump on the bottom. It seemed another person was getting some Super Size burgers. Good, maybe that meant a couple more Super Size orders would be coming down as well. The lunch rush seemed to be kinder to the new menu item already.

As he prepared the two burgers, he could hear a customer complaining loudly to the cashier. “Oh boy... first asshole of the shift,” Ralph sighed. That poor cashier out there was really getting it bad from the guy. Nothing to be done other than finishing his order as quick as possible to get him out the door, along with wishing his tail would get caught in it of course.

Ralph could hear the stream of complaints more clearly as he brought the order forward. Some nonsense about taking too long, costing too much, and general staff incompetence. The snow leopard doing the complaining was dressed in a three-piece suit with a Bluetooth headset in one ear. Hmmph. No surprises here in the “Who’s That Asshole” game.

The leopard yanked his order from Ralph’s paw before he could even get a “have a nice day” out, grumbling his way out the door. As Ralph returned to the back, he saw a yellow Lamborghini peel out of the parking lot, with the same guy from earlier behind the wheel. He shook his head in disgust. Some people really needed to be brought down a peg.

---

Impatiently drumming at the wheel, Sergey tried to keep his growing rage under control. The fight to stay calm wasn’t going very well. Everyone else on the road was driving far, far too slow for his liking. By the time he came to a red light with a pickup truck in front of him that rage was boiling over. He revved the sports car’s engine threateningly. When that truck didn’t get going right away as the light turned green, Sergey had decided enough was enough. He floored the gas pedal and jetted into the second lane, peeling away from the other cars on the road.

“Bunch of stupid, no-good, lazy drivers. Bet he works at that McGuffin’s in a junker like that,” he muttered grumpily referring to the surprised elderly dragon driving the pickup. There was no time left in his day to be stuck waiting for others to get their asses in gear; today’s meeting was way too important for that. He’d hoped that stopping at a fast food restaurant would save him time on his way to that meeting. What he hadn’t counted on was the lunch rush.

The grey furred feline tried to relax his grip on the steering wheel. This investors’ meeting would require perfect mental focus. The anger could be put to good emotional use elsewhere, channeled through the lens of executive professionalism and authority. But to get to that point, he needed to stop being so tense.

Not exactly a great time to be giving up cigarettes; this would’ve been the perfect day for them.

The garage was full to bursting with other cars, but that was no problem for Sergey since he had his own personal parking space. The car tore into the spot as he mentally went through his notes for the upcoming presentation. Greeting, joke, stock prices, upcoming product, joke, buzz words, rinse, repeat. The format became something of a mantra to him, repeated over and over in his head so he could focus on something other than his anger.

As he entered the high rise office building, Sergey started to eat one of the burgers. If not cigarettes, then maybe artery clogging fast food would be good for stress relief. It didn’t take much time after that first bite for him to finish the tasty treat. As much as he hated admitting that anything good could come out of that black hole of an establishment, those burgers were delectable. Someone in upper management of their company must’ve gotten off their ass and made something that could actually pass for food, and for that Sergey was thankful.

There was still about an hour left for preparations, which would’ve sounded like plenty of time to most. But Sergey already felt like he was late; he liked to practice his entire presentation once before any of the clients or investors would show up. Practice made perfect after all, and nowhere was that more true than in the world of multi-billion dollar businesses.

His claws tapped against the tile floor as he walked up three flights of stairs and into his office. The suit around him felt oppressively tight, more so than the usual lack of comfort. Sure, as a snow leopard wearing lots of layers of clothing meant inherent discomfort and heat, but this was different. This suit had just been fitted a week ago. Somehow that tailor must’ve made a mistake. He made a mental note to check it out later.

Sergey wanted to finish off the rest of his food, but it’d have to wait. Instead he left the burger in his office and headed for the conference room. Pacing inside the long, empty conference hall, the feline’s tail flicked back and forth in annoyance. It was hard to hear himself think anymore, thanks to the suit. But there was no time to go and get a different one... he’d just have to push through the problem.

But instead, the suit’s sleeves began to rip along the seams. Sergey stopped his pacing at the first sound of trouble, his head whipping down to his arms. Now that was odd. The jacket didn’t seem to be fitting even slightly anymore. The ends of the sleeves only reached part way down the arm, not up to the wrist anymore. And as the snow leopard watched in curiosity, he noticed a small surge in his arm and a change in perspective.

Just a few inches of change, barely enough to make a difference if one wasn’t paying attention. But Sergey definitely saw it. He almost doubted his senses until he saw the same thing happen again, and again. Something was making him grow, and it felt pretty good to boot. What could be causing this though? He didn’t remember any radioactive waste baths recently, nor any haywire science experiments. The only thing that happened was going to work, and eating some Super Size burgers.

Wait. Really? What an awful cliché. Sergey almost groaned in exasperation at the stupidity of it, but instead groaned in pleasure. This was such a fantastic feeling, almost like a drug. And his trip had only just begun.

An arm flex was all that was needed to ruin the rest of the suit, becoming more like a vest at this point. Height wasn’t the only thing being brought to his frame; he looked less like a suave businessman now and more like an amateur bodybuilder. And with each moment, Sergey’s body pulsed larger and larger. He used a claw to flick the buttons off his jacket, and let it fall off his body with a deep rumble of satisfaction. The rest of his clothing wasn’t going to last long either. His calves swelled with enough muscle to match his biceps and pecs, making the pants look less like dress wear and more like shorts as time passed.

Soon enough he needed to crouch down inside the conference room, chuckling to himself. He was so enthralled by the changes that he barely heard someone knock on the door.

A petite female armadillo opened the door slightly. She had been hearing strange purring noises from inside, and her curiosity got the better of her. “Sergey?” She opened the door a little wider... and saw a huge feline face greet her at the door.

“Hello Rita,” Sergey said, oozing with malice. “I don’t think there’s going to be a meeting today after all. Or any day from now on.”

The door swung wide open, knocking Rita onto her back. The commotion was enough to get the attention of most of the office floor, who turned their heads or peeked up out of their cubicles to see what was going on. An instant passed, with no one willing to address the growing snow leopard in their midst.

But when Sergey growled, a deep bass rumbling through the office, panic spread quickly. The prey species all abandoned their work and ran for the stairs, while the predators oscillated between wanting to run away and fight off the massive feline. Most didn’t end up staying though once the giant barreled through the door and out into the rest of the office. He had to get on his hands and knees by this point, otherwise he risked breaking through to the upper floors. That could happen soon, but not yet. Sergey wanted to enjoy the slow growth first.

Sergey grinned and flexed his muscles, pushing his back up against the ceiling and his arms against the walls. This was rather enjoyable. More so than he’d believed something like this could be. Maybe it was the lack of resistance those structures now posed to him; they all folded like paper. All it took to ruin the wall, and several other rooms in close vicinity, was a stretch of his arm to full extension. His spotted tail flicked, betraying his enjoyment of the situation even as chairs and cubicles and computers were knocked aside like children’s toys.

More. This wasn’t going to be enough, he could already tell. Sure the one burger still hadn’t worn off yet, but it didn’t matter. No matter how big he got from here, it wasn’t going to be enough. Sergey crawled through the office toward his room, and toward the second burger sitting on the desk there. His fluffy tail flicked across work spaces and knocked out coworkers left and right, while desks were pulverized into splinters under his hands.

But soon he realized the speed of his growth was all he needed to get anywhere. Rather than crawling, the growth began to push him forward. Ten more feet flooded onto Sergey’s frame, followed by another ten. Deep purring reverberated throughout the office as the snow leopard finally reached his own corner cubicle. He had filled up the entire floor with his body.

But now it’s time to start filling up even more, he thought as he tossed the entire McGuffin’s bag into his mouth.

The floor shook from the combined growth spasms and growling, growing feline. The quaking tore through the supports in the floor, causing him to fall down into the lower office. The downward force caused him to slam through to the next floor as well, and finally down one more to the lobby of his skyscraper office. Slightly dazed by the sudden fall, Sergey looked up into the hole he’d previously inhabited.

He stood up and filled the entire hole with his body, 40 feet of snow leopard still shooting upward. The ceiling collapsed down to his paws as he made room for even more growth, accelerating up to reach 50 feet tall. Soon that fell to 60, and 70, and 80 with no slowing down. This was everything he could’ve ever asked for; the power flooding through him made his fur stand on edge and his bushy tail whip behind. The walls just as vulnerable to his tail, tearing through the windows and metal as it wreaked havoc on the skyscraper. It became apparent as his head pushed up through floor after floor of the office that it wasn’t going to last much longer.

Sergey felt impatient though. He was done waiting for anything. No more slow cars, or incompetent fast food workers, or waiting for meetings. Everything was all about him now, and he wasn’t going to let some building stand in his way. With a feral roar of triumph, the 120 foot tall snow leopard stretched his arms out wide and knocked away the sides of the building. Glass and metal scattered across the city, and the figure of a feline continued to rise up out of the dust spread everywhere by the skyscraper’s destruction.

With a flex and a step forward, Sergey’s mere presence started to cause chaos all around him. People jumped into cars if they could or just ran on foot to escape the still expanding snow leopard, not so much worried about the safety of others so much as getting away from the huge catastrophe looming above them. Sergey laughed and ground his paw into the pavement, scratching his claws into ditches and cracking the road through his size alone. The growth was starting to slow down now... nearly 200 feet tall. For all the hassle earlier, these Super Size burgers had definitely been worth the effort in the end.

“Better watch my step now little ones, I can’t avoid all of you at once,” Sergey said as he continued stepping forward. It wouldn’t be much fun to trample all the tiny people down there at once; there was no sport in it with them all clustered. Once they all started scattering he could stalk them down one at a time. But until then he could definitely still enjoy attacking these buildings. There were plenty of targets, but Sergey only wanted to hit the biggest ones. It was time to show off just how powerful he’d become, so he walked down the street to assert his dominance over the skyline. Maybe he could even get some more of those burgers later.

---

The fox shuffled his feet, looking away from his friends. “I dunno. You saw how big that otter was on the television. Who knows how big we’ll get with this many,” Gerard said, pointing to several McGuffin’s bags in the grass.

“It should be pretty... h-huge,” Bea chirped, still fighting to get comfy in her now tight clothing. The red feathers that marked her as a cardinal were normally easily covered with plenty of fabric, to make sure nothing got in her plumage that would require extra preening later. And maybe it was partly to keep the bright red color of her feathers from sticking out too much as well... but she would never admit that, not even to him. Gerard knew she was much too shy. But now her sweatshirt was being stretched to the limit, at least two sizes too small. It didn’t matter that they were miles away from anyone who could see, in one of the many grassy fields surrounding the city. Bea would never be really comfortable at this size. Being shy and blending in wouldn’t be an option anymore.

Moments earlier though, Bea was just a tiny bird of five foot three and the trio of college students had been paying attention to the news of a massive otter running through downtown. He was crushing cars, causing chaos, creating catastrophes and generally making a mess of things through the city. It was a sight to behold. He was an otter-shaped disaster, and the government was likely going to need months to clean up and replenish their supply of fish to restaurants. Luckily the mustelid was on the other side of the city, far away from the restaurant they were visiting, McGuffin’s.

Just like many others, they had come to try the Super Size burgers. Everything was normal and fine until Gerard realized that Bea was now a couple inches taller than Eric. That definitely wasn’t right. As a test, he took a tiny nibble of his own burger and a minute later noticed a shifting in his perspective. Somehow, these burgers were making people grow when eaten. Bea had been the one with the most eaten before the realization, and now towered over both himself and Eric at eight feet tall.

Gerard reached up to put a hand on Bea’s shoulder. “Sorry that I didn’t notice the change earlier, by the way. Could’ve saved you some embarrassment.” Bea only gave a weak smile and a nod.

Eric, his mouse friend, wasn’t convinced by Gerard’s wishy washy response. He jabbed at the fox’s stomach with a finger. “You’re the one always talking about how awesome super heroes are; shouldn’t you be excited about this chance?”

“I never thought it could actually happen.”

Eric cocked an eyebrow. “What does that even mean? Who cares what you thought or didn’t think would happen, we can actually do this now! Don’t back out when the opportunity is finally here.”

“This is a big decision. We can’t ever take it back, so excuse me for wanting to be a little cautious,” Gerard countered.

“Oh, so all that was just talk? When your chance actually comes up to make a difference in the world, to be a hero, you’re just gonna let it slip through your fingers?” Eric scoffed. This was just typical behavior from the mouse though, posturing to make himself look confident and in charge. Gerard had known him for years, back since Elementary school, and even back then he’d been this way.

The vulpine watched Eric grab the bags of McGuffins and recoiled as one was shoved into his arms. Eric pulled out a burger from his own bag and said, “No way I’m gonna ignore this. Not me. Opportunities like this are once in a lifetime. No, even less often than that. This is never gonna happen to anyone again. Ever. We need to do this.” The mouse huffed to collect his thoughts and unwrap one of the Super Size burgers. “But I need you guys at my side. Together we can be something really great. Are you two in or out?”

Gerard bit his lip and looked up to Bea, who nodded her head. “I’ll do it if you do Ger,” she affirmed. That made him feel a little more confident. He doubted that Eric would really need the two of them to grow to go through with the plan; he would do it with or without them. But he did know he couldn’t abandon the mouse. Bea would follow them if she wasn’t alone in the choice, but Eric would push through anyway without regard to the loneliness of his future as the only giant between them. What sort of friend would he be if he backed out at a time like this?

Once his meal was finished, the fox sat down in the field to rest. Gerard rubbed his stomach and groaned lightly, not used to eating that much food all at once. Four burgers all at once. Even considering the circumstances and what was to come it sounded like a stupid idea to get stuffed by that many patties in one sitting. Bea and Eric weren’t faring much better but Eric was standing and looking over his body, waiting for any sign that a change was approaching. Gerard wasn’t so sure it would be quite that quick to act, since their bodies still needed to metabolize whatever caused that growth.

A strange tickling sensation from under his butt changed his mind though. Looking over his shoulder as the changed began, he could see his tail snaking out further across the grass and dandelions tickling his tail and butt fur. The growth seemed to tickle the pleasure center of his brain too, as he quickly discovered just how fun getting larger could be.

His clothes lasted an almost pathetic amount of time, ripping down the seams of his pants and t-shirt to expose the orange fur under them in less than a minute. Ten feet tall already, and Gerard couldn’t help a giggle. In retrospect, maybe he’d been too cautious about eating the burgers earlier because if growth was this entertaining he definitely didn’t want it to stop.

He rose to his feet and wiggled his toes in the grass, enjoying the feel of the earth spreading out underneath his thickening paw pads. The wind blew through his fur naturally now without the restriction of clothes, and he stretched his muscles with arms raised up to the sky. That wasn’t all that stretched though as his body rose skyward as well, 25 feet and counting. Gerard felt wonderful, free and as though he’d been born anew.

Gerard’s reverie was interrupted by the sound of stomps, and the splintering of trees. He turned to watch Eric testing his new strength against the poor foliage. Eric hadn’t required any big push to get comfortable with his new position of power, but Bea seemed less at ease. She had her hands over her mouth, and was shifting her weight back and forth between her legs. The ground under her claws morphed and shifted under the pressure, and more and more dirt was shoved aside as she continued her growth.

Each of them had to be nearly 50 feet tall now. “Well, this is actually much more fun than I expected.” Gerard’s wagging tail blew flurries of wind all across the field. “And it’s not stopping anytime soon. Gotta keep getting bigger!”

Eric paused and grinned back at him. “Ohh, now you want to keep getting bigger? Too bad someone stopped me from buying even more burgers.”

“Hey Eric, I know you’re having fun b-but could you stop with the stomping?” Bea asked. “It’s kind of hard to stay standing when you’re doing that.”

“But I’m not stomping.”

Gerard blinked in confusion. “But... Bea, you’re not stomping. And Eric isn’t stomping either. So what’s going on?”

The titanic trio turned their attention back to the city. And back there was a horrifying sight; some massive snow leopard taking out his aggression in a terrible, Godzilla-style rampage. Buildings were falling, streets getting mooshed under his stomps, and it seemed he was even taller than the otter from earlier!

“Well looks like we have our very first act of heroism, served up on a platter for us. You guys ready to go show the world what we’re about?” Eric asked with a smirk on his face and a mischievous glint in his eye.

If he were to be honest, Gerard wasn’t ready for anything like that. More than anything right now he just wanted to keep growing and enjoy that feeling for a while. Just during their conversation they’d reached 75 feet, and still growing. Eric wanted to be the superhero, but it felt more and more like Gerard was awakening to something deep inside he hadn’t realized was there. Being big was fun, but being bigger was better for sure.

But being big couldn’t be as much fun if there was no city. Someone had to do something about that overgrown feline. “Sure, let’s go save the day.” As the three began their trek over to the city, Gerard had a heavy weight in the pit of his stomach. They could be heroes, but only if they didn’t do more damage to the city in the process... that might be hard.

The 100 foot tall fox followed behind his friends, and tested his stomps gently against the ground, marveling at the change in the ground’s height that could be caused by just the tiniest increase in force now. With as much as they weighed, they could uproot trees and create deep valleys with just the simple action of moving. And it was getting greater all the time. Gerard could still feel the warm, tingling sensation across his fur that accompanied the growth; it hadn’t diminished for even an instant since starting.

Once they reached the city, the fox was looking into windows of skyscrapers 200 feet above the ground. He tried waving inside at the little folks with a smile to show he meant no harm. It backfired spectacularly though as they ran away from the window and out the door, the entire building trying to evacuate all at once.

“H-Hey, don’t worry. We’re here to help, can’t you see that? We’re the good guys,” Gerard tried to explain. No one was listening though. This wasn’t going well. He supposed it made sense though, since the other giant around the city hadn’t been the friendliest up to this point.

And speaking of that giant, he noticed the snow leopard stroll around a corner. He was idly chewing on a bus, almost like a bone and there was no guarantee it was empty. Gerard didn’t want to look to find out. In fact, he was feeling pretty unprepared for any upcoming fight at all. From far away the feline hadn’t looked too impressive. But up close, that toned, lithe body and those razor sharp teeth looked much more dangerous. The warmth all over his fur from the growth didn’t hide the feeling of his hackles rising.

“Well, well. I’m not the only one out for some fun today?” the feline smirked. “Can’t have that, no sir. I’m the major power in this city, kids. Scram.” He approached the three of them, making a show of using his tail to knock into the apartment buildings and skyscrapers all around. Some of them were sturdy enough to last. But not all.

Eric attacked first, lunging forward to knock the snow leopard off his feet. But it wasn’t even close to a fair fight. That enormous brute just stopped the mouse in his tracks, and deflected him to the side. Eric ended up doing more harm than good, taking out an entire city block as he collapsed in a heap. He’d fallen head first into brick walled building, and didn’t look like he was moving anymore. Bea gasped, running over to check on her friend.

“Nope, sorry sweetheart, can’t let you do that. You’re a threat too,” the snow leopard said as he moved to cut off Bea. Gerard would later attest to not remembering much of what happened. His world turned a shade of red, and he could remember running, clawing, biting… but that was it for the next few minutes.

What was for sure though was when the snow leopard started growing again, up to 250 feet. It wasn’t a huge change comparatively, but it was enough to easily outclass Gerard. Sergey had him pinned down, rubble surrounding him on all sides; apparently he’d been body slammed into a factory. A white hand rose up, ready to strike down Gerard but paused. At first he thought it was to torture him, maybe to get him to beg for mercy. He wasn’t above that at all.

“Please, please… stop hurting people… don’t hurt me…” he whimpered.

And Sergey listened. In fact, his eyes were wide as disks. Maybe this was a moment of revelation? Could this monsterous snow leopard have actually realized just how wrong his actions were in this moment? Gerard cocked an eyebrow in confusion and paid more attention to his surroundings again. The factory floor beneath him was shifting, moving inward almost. Sort of like how it felt with the grass against his paws when he was…

Growing. Gerard could tell he was growing again. It was obvious now, as the snow leopard on top of him shrank down in his view. The kitty was probably only half as tall as him now. He grinned and rolled over, tossing Sergey off and onto the street. After all that fighting and destruction he knew that justice was about to be served in a very big way. 300 feet tall and still counting, Gerard loomed over just about everything now.

With a playful glance at Sergey, he stomped into the ground in front of his former captor. The shockwave of force knocked the cat down onto his back, and flattened several cars under his paw pads. He grinned and chuckled in appreciation, his tail starting to wag behind him.

“Come on, bigger body. Keep going,” he whispered to himself, now up to 350 feet tall. He gave another stomp, noticing the incremental increase in the shockwave produced. Then he did it again at 400 feet, and once more at 450. It seemed at that point as if the growth would never end. That was just fine with Gerard though. He closed his eyes to appreciate the simple feeling of increasing his height, but the tingling stopped far too soon for his taste.

With a wishful sigh, the fox turned his attention away from the growth by looking all the way down at Sergey. At 500 feet tall, there was no way the kitty could ever compete with him again. He leaned down and grabbed the leopard by his tail, picking him up and dangling him in front of his face.

“Heh, looks like I caught the cat by his tail. Not so tough anymore are you?” he taunted, poking Sergey in the chest. The snow leopard puffed out his fur in hatred and swatted with his claws to catch Gerard’s finger. The vast vulpine yelped and dropped his prize; the claws had drawn blood along his pointer finger. Frowning, Gerard followed after the trail of spots as they darted down the street.

Gerard couldn’t move that fast now to chase Sergey though. Each footstep was going to cause residual damage no matter what he did at this size. Buildings were knocked over and entire roads were crushed under each paw. If Gerard was honest with himself, it was sort of fun; like being stuck in a Lego city, and he got to be Godzilla. But these were real buildings and real cars and real people down there. He was as careful as he could manage, but even his best wasn’t going to spare the city entirely from friendly fire.

Bea and Eric followed close behind, going through growth spurts of their own to reach the same height as their friend. Eric had his arm draped around Bea’s back, limping along with her help to give chase to that destructive, not-as-giant feline. With each step he grit his teeth and cursed under his breath. Gerard was glad to have a friend as determined as that mouse; he’d keep going no matter the cost.

Up ahead, a deep rumbling echoed through the city. A mound of white, spotted fur rose above the city scape, laughing the whole way into the air. He’d clearly gotten plenty of burgers, because 500 feet didn’t slow him down as he proceeded to shatter 600, 700, 800, and finally stopping at a solid 1000 feet tall. Sergey turned his attention back to the three heroes, smiling with devilish delight.

“He found another McGuffin’s to raid,” Bea gasped.

“Gee, great observation there,” Eric spat. “Now what do we do?”

“We don’t have to worry about the snow leopard. We need to worry about him instead,” Gerard said breathlessly, pointing off to the right and up. Eric was about to ask what he meant, before a long shadow passed over them and continued growing outward…

---

Ralph rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. His uniform seemed a bit tighter than usual. Maybe it was time to lay off the snacking. He didn’t want to have to buy a new uniform already; this one was only a couple months old. But that was the price he paid for working around such delicious food.

And speaking of delicious food, the raccoon was sure making short work of most of the food stores in the back room. He was sitting down in a chair in the storage room, not paying pretty much any attention to the customers anymore now. No one else had come into the restaurant after the first word of giant monster attacks. Everyone was evacuating or staying at home to wait out the whole ordeal. Ralph still had several hours on his shift though and didn’t want to go home yet. This restaurant might even be the safest place he could be, since the storage room and refrigerators were lined with thick concrete and metal. Since no one else was around, not even the managers anymore, he was passing the time by making food for himself.

He could really put away his share of food. In only thirty minutes he’d gone through 10 Super Size burgers, and was now focusing on the fries instead. The best part of the entire thing was the Super Size sauce though. He practically dumped the stuff on his burgers and fries, until it was more sauce than solid food.

Ralph hiccupped after polishing off another large Super Size fries. He happily patted his belly as it gurgled and digested the massive meal. If only every day could have a giant monster attack, he thought. This had definitely been the best work shift ever thus far thanks to the free food and lack of customers. As he patted though, something strange caught his attention. A creaking noise.

His pants and shirt complained noticeably, and the buttons on both pieces of clothing shot off nearly simultaneously. The raccoon’s belly spilled forth now that it was free from the confines of the too-tight clothing. It rolled over his black pants to cover up his now showing underwear while a zipping sound revealed that his zipper wasn’t going to be staying up either.

“Guess there’s no point in worrying about these anymore then,” he noted. Getting to his feet, Ralph strained against his gut as he headed back to the kitchen. A lesser raccoon might have been mortified by the prospect of being nearly naked in the restaurant. But after everything that was happening in the city, that wouldn’t be even the fifth weirdest thing people saw today. No longer concerned by his clothes, it was time to make some more burgers to eat.

But the doorway overhead smacked into his face. With a curse he brought a paw to his nose, checking for any blood. Nothing injured other than his pride. It took a few more seconds for Ralph to register anything wrong with the situation. When it did hit him though, his ears perked and his belly grumbled. The doorway was supposed to be nine feet tall. Ralph was supposed to be six feet tall. Neither one of those should be making contact, and yet here he was checking for a bloody nose.

His belly rumbled ominously. Groaning and gripping his gut in the throes of a terrible belly ache, the raccoon was only partially aware of the changes in his body. His shoes were shredded in no time, and his clothes fell away from his body to the floor. He backed up from the door and put a hand on one of the warehouse shelves to stabilize himself. But the shelves collapsed under that weight and sent Ralph tumbling to the floor on his back.

The room was spinning after the force of the impact. Or perhaps it was spinning due to the changing perspective he was dealing with as he grew up to be 20 feet tall. His tail swished back and forth knocking into other shelves and boxes. Were his boss in the area, someone might have come to check up on the raccoon to make sure everything was okay. Ralph wouldn’t be so lucky today though. The warehouse was starting to feel more and more constricting, but he wasn’t sure exactly how to escape his predicament.

He rolled over onto his stomach, creating more chaos around him as he did, and scooted forward to the doorway. If it was too small to fit through while standing, there was still a chance that crawling through could work. The restaurant could still be saved.

Ralph got as far as his waist before getting caught. That bloated gut had plugged the entire doorway and the growth was starting to crack and break the plaster on the walls. Another pain in his gut signaled that things were about to get worse as well. A faster growth spurt destroyed that entire wall and forced him out into the main dining area as well. His 50 foot long body now stretched across the entire restaurant.

Just then, some poor soul tried to enter the McGuffin’s through the front doors. He bounced back as he ran into something black, leathery, and warm. Rather than an ordering counter or a menu, the restaurant had been filled by the face of a colossal raccoon. The lion that entered wondered if he’d forgotten to take his morning pills. If that wasn’t the case, perhaps this was some crazy promotion for that new Super Size meal. A truly super size raccoon… wouldn’t be the first ridiculous advertising strategy the company had tried before.

As the lion stood with mouth agape, the raccoon tried to get his assistance. “Uhh, hi,” he said with a bashful smile. “Welcome to McGuffins? Would you mind helping me out of here?” He realized just how ridiculous the request was as the words were leaving his mouth, but he was out of options. If he moved even an inch the store would be gone, and that was definitely going to put a damper on his pay check.

A tingling in his stomach signaled that it was going to provide the help Ralph needed instead. “Oops, nevermind. Could you please back up sir?” The lion required no further impetus to run away as fast as he could, and tear out of the parking lot in his car. “T-Thank you and have a n-nice daaaAAAYYYY!”

The building tore away from its foundation as the raccoon’s body decimated whatever was left of the McGuffin’s. Those concrete walls and metal girders did nothing to hamper the growth as he exploded out to be twice as tall as before. Ralph coughed as the dust clouded the air, brushing debris from his shoulder and fast food off his legs.

Perhaps he could still get unemployment benefits from “termination due to forceful expansion and destruction of property.”

Ralph stood up to survey the landscape. His paws had destroyed an SUV on the street behind the restaurant, squished from the force of their growth on top of it, and so were covered with pieces of metal and a tire around one toe. Furrowing his eyebrows, he removed the offending parts and was struck by just how calm it was around him. Not many were screaming or running away yet, three at the most perhaps. One of them was definitely the SUV’s owner so that was understandable. But perhaps the lack of panic was due to the other ‘monsters’ around the city; the appearance of just one, hundred-foot-tall person wasn’t going to be enough to frighten anyone now. Especially not one so out of shape.

Now that he was entirely naked and could ostensibly be seen by hundred of people in all his glory, Ralph reminded himself that he definitely needed to start working out more. His ball gut wobbled as he took a hesitant step forward, hanging down just a little further than he was used to. The size increased had evidently also led to a mass increase, though it could just be thanks to stuffing himself with the Super Size burgers earlier.

Wait, could that be the problem? The Super Size burgers? In a moment of clarity, he realized that the enormous otter terrorizing the city was a regular customer at his McGuffin’s. That explained why he looked so familiar in the TV broadcasts earlier in the day! But as he thought about it, Ralph couldn’t help but be a little bit annoyed at how obvious the mechanism of growth was in the end. Everyone was speculating about mad scientists and military weapons gone wrong, but no one would ever guess a fast food chain’s promotional item could cause this mayhem. Though it would definitely explain why he was now standing at 100 feet tall, after eating so many sandwiches.

“Wait, how many sandwiches did I eat again?” Ralph wondered aloud. He belched involuntarily, and that enormous stomach rumbled ominously yet again as he doubled over in pain. This one was going to be a doozy.

The ground trembled slightly as the raccoon began his slow ascent into the sky. This time, rather than a sudden growth spurts, it was a slow and steady stream of size. As though he were a parade balloon, Ralph’s eyes traced windows as they came from above and went to below his field of vision, 150 feet tall and still going. It wasn’t an unpleasant experience, this growth, but it was unsettling. He never felt he was afraid of heights, but the perspective shift was almost proving too much for the raccoon.

The ringed tail he sported on his backside shook worriedly and hit a competing fast food restaurant, knocking the roof clean off it without any effort. And despite the situation, Ralph smiled. Serves those jerks right anyway, always treating their customers like crap. He decided to leave the area before he got too much larger though. Each step through the streets covered greater ground, and he never even tried avoiding all the cars parked on the sides of the road.

His main problem was how the growth was slowly speeding up. Once he made it to twice that otter monster’s size, he realized the rumbling and tingling coursing through his body still hadn’t stopped. Fitting between buildings got harder and harder. His gut and hips kept body checking the buildings on either side of him, and at one point he even wedged himself between two skyscrapers. Unable to get free, the growth merely pushed each skyscraper off to the side as an enormous raccoon belly popped out from between them.

Ralph really wanted to get away into the country side at that point. Things were embarrassing enough, but getting caught between those two was the final straw. He was pretty sure someone had even taken a few pictures, catching the camera’s flash out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t even want to know why someone was doing that. All he knew was that mountains and wide open fields were the best place for a raccoon his size. As for food… well maybe it was best to take things one step at a time.

The raccoon noticed that his vision of the city was opening up significantly now, as he passed 400 feet tall. Nearly every building in the city was shorter than his prodigious mass, but not so for a few beings off in the distance. It looked like… a fox? Yes that was definitely a fox. What? How on earth did a fox get to be that size?

Oh, right. Super Size burgers. He probably had some of them too. Along with whomever that cat in his hand was. Maybe he could form a team with them, to get the heck out of the city faster? It would definitely solve the problem of being the lonesome giant in the world. Though it did compound the food problems in the future. One step at a time.

Those thoughts were dispelled as a flash of pain shot through his stomach, nearly staggering him. He placed both hands on his stomach in distress. “Oh please calm down… I don’t want to get any bigger, not yet,” he whispered.

Ralph discovered that wasn’t his body’s plan though. That slow growth continued to speed up, dozens of feet a minute becoming dozens of feet a second. Convincing the other giants to help could wait, escape needed to happen fast. But much as he wanted to get away he found himself affixed in place by the growth. The growing pains in his gut were lessening as he got taller, like a subsiding stomach ache; without thinking he began to massage his gut. It felt… good. So rather than get anything done he stood still and watched as buildings crumbled when his paws ran into them, and his tail swished far above buildings. A thousand feet of chubby raccoon, dominating the skyline, chittered to himself happily.

The other giants didn’t notice anything was wrong until Ralph crested 1500 feet, still getting larger. Ralph sat down, his butt flattening an entire block easily, so that he could deal with the changes in his center of gravity more easily. That long shadow of his continued to lengthen, his tail snaking through streets and through intersections to cause plenty of accidents as cars ran into the fluffy wall of raccoon fuzz.

Ralph still sort of wanted the growth to stop, but knew there wasn’t anything he could do about it anymore. Escape wasn’t an option without causing massive damage. It was easier to enjoy the ride. Any pain in his body had completely left now, replaced only with a tingling warmth radiating from his core to the tips of his strands of fur. The battle to save the city was already mostly lost at this height anyway. A 5000 feet tall raccoon wasn’t going to be able to save much in the way of buildings, cars, roads, street signs, power lines, or anything else. He towered over everything now as his gut had mooshed up against buildings and his fuzzy rump had flattened entire blocks of the city.

Once the growth did slow down, Ralph opened his eyes. He didn’t even remember closing them in the first place. Blushing, he looked down at the much smaller giants, easily 3 times their height even while sitting. One of them was charging him as though to attack. A snow leopard? His memory was failing him at the moment, but the feline did seem familiar somehow.

Regardless he wasn’t about to let him get in any swipes with those claws. So with a pudgy hand he grabbed the kitty and held him aloft. There, no harm done. And just as he was about to address his new giant friends down on the ground, Ralph’s stomach rumbled ominously.

“Hey guys. You know where I can find a McGuffin’s? I’m still hungry,” he said, and his stomach rumbled in agreement.